


Aftermath

by bigk4062



Series: aftermath [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Abandonment, Aftermath, But Joey can save himself, Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, F/M, First Time, Joey's dad is a jerk, M/M, Mai cant stay in one place, Obsessions, Polarshipping - Freeform, Puzzleshipping, more tags to be added later, unrequitted rivalshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-14 23:22:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 83,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9209996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigk4062/pseuds/bigk4062
Summary: Yami is gone, sent into the afterlife.  Yugi and the gang head home to try to move on with their lives, only for a new threat to arise.





	1. Going Home

A/N This takes place in the aftermath of the final duel, and assumes that the reader has watched all the episodes of Yugioh... there with be M/F and M/M interactions, if that bothers you than please leave. No lemons but there will be some heavy petting and implied scenes.

Seto Kaiba walked into his office and firmly shut the door. Three strides across the room put him at his desk, where he dumped a briefcase and phone before continuing to the window. The seemingly permanent Kaiba glare was fixed on his face as he looked out on the buildings that made up downtown Domino.

“So what happens now?” He wondered.

“The dweeb squad told me that Yugi had another half who has returned back to where he belongs. According to them, Atem was the one who defeated me all those times. He's the one who caused me to abandon Mokuba after that first defeat. He was the one who I fought so long and hard to get my revenge on. What happens now that my greatest rival is apparently gone?”

Kaiba turned sharply away from the window, walking to his desk before sitting down heavily, head in his hands. A weary sigh escaped him before he sat up straight, fixing his coat so he had some sort of order in his suddenly turmoil life. Pushing the intercom button, he instructed his secretary to locate Mokuba and send him to the office. Cindy agreed, before hesitating.

“What is it?” Kaiba snapped, nerves already on the edge.

“Well Sir, Joey Wheeler called here looking for you. I told him you weren't taking phone calls but he insisted on leaving a message for you... Apparently he challenged you to a duel...”

Cindy let her voice trail off, knowing her boss would be cringing just hearing the blonde duelist name. Sure enough, a loud noise followed by a string of Non-work appropriate words came from the office and Kaiba appeared in the doorway, white coat billowing out behind him, making him look much taller than his 6'1” height. He looked over at Cindy, leaning over the desk to look her in the eye.

“Give. Me. His. Number.” he snarled, ready to take his frustrations on the other duelist. Cindy looked her boss in the eye as she handed it over, not willing to let the brunet intimidate her.

“What do you want me to tell Mokuba” she asked calmly, while Kaiba blinked at her, surprised she hadn't backed down when he snarled at her.

“Have him him meet me at the car in 10 minutes. I'll need someone to witness when I humiliate that 3rd rate duelist.” With that Kaiba disappeared into his office, grabbing his briefcase along with his deck before stomping out the door. Cindy picked up the phone, not stopping the smile that spread across her face from realizing her boss was back to his old self.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Yugi stared out the plane window, thinking over the last few days. The trip to Egypt took a lot out of him, then saying good-bye to his Yami nearly broke the boys' spirit. He looked over at the seat next to him and smiled, watching as Joey slept in the seat next to him. Tea was on Joey's other side, Tristan next to her.

Rolling his neck to try to relieve that tension, he noticed that the seat belt sign was off. Standing up, he stretched as much as he could in the tiny area he had. Placing a hand on Joey's leg, he muttered an apology to the blonde while he shook him, waking the other duelist up with a start.

Joey snorted awake, waking up Tea who hit Tristan on the side while she stretched in her own uncomfortable seat. Yugi smiled at the other two, signally to them that he needed to get out to use the bathroom. Tea gave his arm a squeeze when he passed, and Tristan patted him on the back awkwardly before sitting back down in his own seat.

 A row up sat Grandpa, who was unable to sleep while he worried about his grandsons recent lost. Duke and Ryou slept next to him, the dice master oblivious to the emotional turmoil swirling around him, and the Britain to tired from his own ordeal to worry much about anything.

Grandpa watched Yugi disappear into a bathroom before sighing to himself. He knew it was going to be a long couple of months while they all grieved. Unbuckling his own seat belt, he leaned forward to the row in front of him where the Ishtars were sitting.

Solomon placed his hand on Ishizu's shoulder, and the middle Ishtar sibling turned to him, with a soft smile.

“Yugi once told me that you could see the future. Tell me, did you foresee how to help my grandson through his grieving period?” Solomon asked, knowing how silly the question really was. Ishizu smiled at the older man before allowing herself to stare at the small area that Yugi disappeared too.

“I know my Pharaoh wanted to move on to his next life. However, it is hard to leave behind the other half of your soul, someone that you love with all your heart. I believe that while Atem's story is complete, there might just be another chapter in Yami's, as confusing as this all seems.” Grandpa nodded at the woman, slowly settling back into his seat, pondering over her response to his question.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Joey stood at the carousel, waiting for all of the luggage to start coming through. Grandpa had gone to get his car, and Tea had called her mother to come pick her up.

Joey and Tristan were going with Tea, while Grandpa was taking the Ishtars to the game shop. Duke was out grabbing his car also, and he was going to take Ryou home and bring Yugi and the Ishtars luggage to the game shop since Grandpa didn't have enough room for everyone in his car.

Joey planned on making his way over there before dinner, but he had to go home first and see what kind of trouble his father had gotten into. He rotated his shoulder, wincing as it popped back into place. His father was a drunk, and Joey learned the hard way to get out of his way when things started to fly. In his eyes, Joey was not being abused, he just tried to hard to keep what was left of his family together.

To many times to count Joey had put himself into harms way to keep his father from doing more damage to himself. All the yelling and hitting during the drunk parts was made worse when his dad was sober, and took Joey on trips and taught him sports, and reminding Joey what it was like to have a family. Joey shook his head, stopping his train of thought so he could pay attention to the luggage that was beginning to circle in front of him.

He grabbed a few bags, then Tristan and Malik appeared to help him. Joey stepped back, and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Scrolling down to his sisters number, he sent the younger Wheeler an 'everything's good' message.

His eye's lingered on the next name and before he knew it he was texting Kaiba a dueling challenge. When no answer came, he decided that conversation was the best way to go, and he dialed the number to Kaiba's private secretary that Mokuba had secretly slid to him eons ago. Grinning to himself, he dialed the number, hoping that this challenge would help bring things back to normal.

Tea's mother pulled up the the airport Pickup zone and put her car in park. She quickly texted her daughter, waiting as her baby girl and her friends came out the revolving doors. Tea ran over to her mother's car, opening the passenger door and leaning in to give her mother a hug.

Joey and Tristan hung back, allowing Tea a chance to greet her mother in private. They grabbed the suitcases, bringing them over to the trunk and placing them inside. Joey and Tristan then slid into the back of the car, causing Tea and her mother to break apart. Mrs Gardner smiled at them in the rear-view mirror before starting the car.

Pulling smoothly back into traffic, she reached over to pat her daughters arm, happy to have her back. She then turned her attention to the blonde in her back-seat.

“Joseph, are you ok to go home? I washed the spare sheets for you if you need a place to stay tonight.?” Joey met the woman's gaze in the mirror before slowly nodding.

“Yes Mrs. Gardner I will be fine, thank you.” Angie Gardner nodded her head at the boy. Tristan cupped his friends' shoulder before grinning at him.

“Hey man, at least you'll get to go home and relax, my moms watching my nephew and she's been begging me to come home... she even offered to pay for the plane to drop me off at the front door!” Joey snicked at the brunet, while Tea and her mother rolled their eyes at the pair.

The car pulled up to Joeys block, and he got out, fist bumped with Tristan and bowed to Tea's mom in thanks for the ride. “I'll catch you guys later, thanks again.” Joey shut the door and waved while they pulled away. He turned towards his building, hoping that his father was home and sober.

Walking up three flights of stairs, Joey approached his apartment door, turned the key in the lock and opened it. Immediately something flew by his head, breaking into pieces on the floor.

“Where have you been boy? Haven't seen you in a while...you out running around with that old gang of yours again?” The elder Wheeler sneered, leaning heavily against the wall. Joey shut his eyes, feeling the dread in his stomach as his father's steps got nearer. The first blow struck Joey's arm and as he fell against the door a second blow fell, and Joey threw up an arm to block the third. A bruise already was developing on his back, and he could feel the blood dripping on down his face.

The worse part was his shoulder was killing him, and he felt like it popped out of its socket again. He needed no other motivation and grabbed his fathers hand as it lowered to hit Joey again. Pushing up against the door, he barrelled into his father, causing the older man to fall on the ground in a heap.

Not looking back, and ignoring the pain in racking his body, Joey marched into his bedroom, grabbed his books and some clothes, and left, calling a neighbor to come check on his dad who hadn't moved from the pile on the floor. Joey marched down the street, bag in hand. His eye was already blacking, he couldn't move his one arm, and his gait was unsteady.

He was heading to Tristans's when a car pulled up beside him. Glancing to his left Joey tensed up for a fight only to be surprised at seeing Mais's face peering at him from her Corvette.

“Joey is that you?” Mai asked, taking in the bruises and swollen eyes that the boy in front of her. “When did you get back into town? I thought you guys were in Egypt or something saving the world again?” Joey stared at her, a thousand thoughts running through his head.

"We just got back a few hours ago, the Pharaoh went back home after the freakiest experience of my life.” Joey told her, attempting to avoid the blonde woman's gave. Mai studied Joey before asking her next question.

“So did you get jumped while you were there? You look awful.”

“My dad decided to roll out the welcome mat for me when I got home. He had some words and, well, he ended up in a heap on the floor and I am wandering around town trying tot decide what my next move is.” Joey told her, shuffling his feet to try to hide his discomfort from his injuries.

Mai didn't hesitate, leaving over to open her passenger door and motioning for Joey to get inside. Joey sat down warily, shutting the door and buckling as Mai gunned the engine and took off down the street.

**********************************************************************************************************

Kaiba paced in front of his car, checking his watch every few seconds. Finally the garage door opened and Mokuba appeared, wearing a frown as he approached his brother.

“I heard you are dueling Joey again, what happened to being down with the 'losers' as you so affectionally call them?” Mokuba asked, not wanting to deal with yet another round of the Seto/Joey show.

“That loser isn't even worth my time Mokuba, we are going home, I must be exhausted if I even entertained this.” Kaiba stated, getting into the car. Mokuba followed suit, silently thanking whatever got would listen that his brother wasn't going after Joey- at least not tonight.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

Riding down the streets of Domino with Mai brought back all kinds of memories for Joey- Of Battle City, of Duelist Kingdom, and of the awful ordeal with the seal which drove this giant wedge between the two of them.

And the worst part was they were so close to figuring out what their relationship was going to be , and how they could deal with the feelings of attraction they had for each other. Now, they were in the same car together, and Joey was slowly dripping blood onto Mai's expensive leather seats while they awkwardly avoided talking.

She handed him some wipes, and Joey attempted to clean the spots. Joeys' phone beeped, and he dug it out of his pocket to see a text from Mokuba, declining for his brother Joey's duel challenge, and begging Joey to re consider egging on the elder Kaiba. Joey smiled at that, shooting off a quick 'no guarantee's' to Mokuba before smiling at his phone. He then texted Yugi to let him know he wasn't going to be able to come over for dinner that night after all. He didn't want to worry his friends with his appearance, they already hated that he kept going back to his father, showing up this way would only cause arguments.

Mai watched him from the corner of her eye, wondering what the other blonde was thinking. Joey grinned at her, wincing as his swollen eye began to throb.

“So where are we going Mai? I'm not exactly dressed for a night out on the town...” Joey wondering, realizing he no longer recognized their surroundings.

“I'm staying at a hotel on the outskirts of town for a couple of days. I was waiting for you to get home so we could talk about... before.” She ended that sentence quietly, not she if she was really ready for this talk. Joey didn't reply, choosing instead to continue staring out the window at the passing trees and houses. Finally , they made it to the hotel, and Mai pulled into a spot, motioning for Joey to follow her.

In the building they went, Mai stopping at the concierge desk for a moment before escorting Joey to the elevator and up to her room.

“Go ahead and take a shower Joey, I have to run to the store real quick and I”ll be right Back.” Mai finished that sentence with a smile, causing Joey to blush. With a flutter of her fingers, Mai left the room, and Joey began to disrobe so he could clean up.

After he finished showering, Joey emerged from the bathroom and sat on the bed. Putting on fresh clothes helped him to relax, and he felt his body begin to relax. A check of his phone showed that the neighbor had texted him letting Joey know that his father was awake and all right. At this point, Joey could care less. His fingers roamed the comforter, thoughts running through his head.

The door opened and Mai appeared, holding a bag in her hands. Sitting down next to Joey, she pulled out bandages and cream and began to patch up the younger teen. She gave Joey some Advil, then helped him to pop his should back into place. Joey watched her, marveling at how nice it was to have a woman take care of him.

“Are you feeling better yet Joey?” Mai asked, causing the boy to abandon his musings.

“I think so...I'm just glad that at last I got the best of him.” Mai nodded before getting off the bed.

“I'm going to shower then we can talk.” Joey nodded wordlessly, staring at the door she disappeared into. When Mai came out, hair wrapped in a towel and all her make-up wiped off, Joey couldn't help but notice how vulnerable she looked. Mai sat down in a chair next to the the bed, leaning forward to look Joey in the eye.

“I'm sorry I left that way Joey. I just couldn't handle what had happened with us. When I saw that seal close around you, I thought my enter life was over. When I couldn't save you, it was worse than when I was captured by Marik. I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to see me again. I'm so sorry that I left you like that.” Mai ended in a whisper, tears sliding down her cheeks.

Joey got off the bed, placing a hand on her cheek before pulling Mai close and kissing her passionately. Their hands began searching each other bodies, and they only broke apart long enough to begin taking their clothes off. When they finally broke apart, Mai grinned at the younger boy before reaching into the bag she had just bought and pulling out a box of condoms before inviting Joey to join her on the bed.

 

 


	2. Time to Duel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey finally gets Kaiba to agree to a duel, and the gang starts to get back to their normal lives.

A few weeks later, things were slowly getting back to normal for everyone. Catching up in school took most of the gangs time, and they found themselves to tired to even hand out on the weekends.   
The lack of action gave Joey a chance to re-evaluate his living situation. His father had took off after their last argument, and Joey hadn't heard from him since. Not willing to stay at the apartment by himself, he decided to start asking about staying at one of his friends houses for the last few months before graduation.   
For now, he was hotel crashing with Mai, the two blondes spending every spare minute together, most of it in bed. Joey knew it wasn't going to last-Mai was to much of a free spirit to be tied down for long, and Joey couldn't follow here on her travels until he finished with school.   
He wasn't sure what the emotions were he was feeling towards the older woman, but he was sure it was love. Joey hated going to school, wanting to spend all day talking to the woman who took care of him and made him feel special.   
However, they both agreed that Joey getting his education was important, and Mai had even threatened to leave him if he skipped. Joey agreed, knowing that all he had to do was suck it up for one more year. After that, his future wasn't so clear, but he hoped that he was be spending it with Mai.  
“I can't believe it's almost summer break already, I'm ready to be done with these exams!” Yugi declared, smiling at his friends during lunch.   
Joey grinned, watching from the corner of his eye as Tristan shot another quick glance at Duke, who was twirling his hair and staring out the window. Shaking his head, Joey turned back to Yugi.   
“So, Kaiba has finally relented and he is going to duel me tonight on the rooftops. I hope I'm ready, I've been practicing and Mai's been helping me with some new strategies.”  
Yugi raised an eyebrow at his best friend. “Don't you have something better to do than bother Kaiba asking him to duel you?”   
“Nope, its my mission in life to beat him in a game, and if that's not going to happen, then at least make it so he enjoys playing a little, Money bags needs to learn to lighten up a bit!” Joey stated, a giant grin covering his face.   
“that's not very nice Joey, how are we suppose to be his friends if he has to deal with you challenging him all the time?” Tea chided, giving the blond a stern look.   
Joey innocently smiled at Tea before taking a bite out of his sandwich. “I promise, if I don't get within 400 points of rich-boy, I will stop, is that ok with you mom?” Joey asked around a mouthful of food.   
“That's gross, I don't know how Mai puts up with you” Tea said, before standing up and looking around the cafeteria. “Kaiba's not even here today he's probably thinking of ways to humiliate you so you leave him alone.” She told Joey before picking up her tray.   
Yugi watched her leave before sighing. “how about we have dinner at my house tonight after you duel Kaiba? Grandpas been bugging me, and I know that the Ishtars would look to see you. You can tell all of us how your big duel went! Bring Mai, she has never been to the Game Shop and Grandpa wants to meet her.” Yugi suggested, noticing the look on Joey's face. “Everything ok?” Yugi asked, concern echoing across his face. Joey managed a grin before shaking his head.   
“Sorry Yug, I'm just a little nervous about Grandpa meeting her, I mean he's like my own Grandpa and I would be devastated if he didn't approve of her. “   
“Grandpa wouldn't do that Joey. He would give her a chance because he knows how much she means to you... but i'll invite the whole gang so it wont be so awkward for you!” Yugi reached behind Joey to grab Tristan, while Joey just sat there nervously playing with his food.   
**********************************************************************************************************  
Kaiba stood out on the rooftop, coat blowing in the wind. He agreed to meet Joey out here at the same place Bakura summoned him when he had taken Mokuba. A quick glance to his right showed his brother standing there, fists clenched to show his annoyance of being put in the middle of yet another Seto/Joey fight.   
Kaiba couldn't help but smile at his baby brothers stance, so much like his own yet so different at the same time.   
A door swung open, and Joey stepped onto the rooftop, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. He grinned widely when he say the Kaiba brother,. Mokuba couldn't help but smile and wave back at him, say what you wanted about Joey, but the older boy's happiness was infectious.   
Joey walked up to Kaiba and extended his hand to shake the other boys, but Kaiba ignored him. He then folded his arms and glared at the shorter duelist, while Joey turned to hug Mokuba. Affectionally ruffling the shorter boys hair, Joey smiled at him.  
“How are you squirt? Looks like you've grown a few inches in the past few weeks...” Mokuba's face light up, while Kaiba frowned, stepping in front of Mokuba causing Joey's attention to shift back to the elder boy.   
“what do you want from me Wheeler, I have a company to run.” He snapped, death glare fixed on the blonde.   
“Hello to you too Kaiba. It's been awhile, I just thought I'd swing by and see how you are doing. You haven't been at school so I thought maybe you had gotten kidnapped or something.” Joey stated, casually looking the brunet over.   
“Looks like you haven't learned any manners in that time” Kaiba replied, the urge to slug the blonde causing his arms to shake.   
“Anyway Kaiba, I thought it was time to have another rematch. I think I finally have what it takes to beat you!” Joey laughed, his whole face lightening up at the prospect. Kaiba blinked, then began to laugh uncontrollably.   
Mokuba stared at his brother, wonder if he had finally cracked.  
”Seto?” he questioned, touching hi brothers shoulder. Kaiba stopped laughing, deciding instead to look quizzically at Joey.   
“what makes you think I would waste my time with you again Wheeler? You think a dog like you would learn its not worth it. “ Joey bristled, willing himself not to fall for the other boys insults.   
“Well Kaiba, you haven't beaten me since I won this.” Joey pulled a card off the top of his deck with a flourish, turning it over to revel his beloved Red Eyes Black Dragon. Kaiba rolled his eyes, unimpressed.   
“I've beaten you with that car in your deck before Wheeler, or has your memory completely failed you?” Kaiba turned, intending to walk away when Mokuba's voice stopped him.   
“Joey, didn't you lose that card to the rare hunters before Battle City? I though Yugi won it when he faced them for you during your sisters operation? And didn't you refuse to take it back after...” Mokuba trailed off, noticing the way his brothers shoulders tensed at Yugi's name.   
“You're right Mokuba, I did refuse to take it back after Yugi got it. I won it back according to Battle City rules” Joey informed them, watching as the man he who loved to torment him tense even more.   
Kaiba turned on his heel, looking Joey straight in the eye. “the only way Yugi would lose to a 3rd rate duelist like you is because he didn't even bother to try. I will not have you two make a mockery of my tournament, or of me. Leave. NOW. With that Kaiba turned toward to door, pausing only to say “Come on Mokuba.”   
The raven-haired teen didn't move, instead looking uncertainly at Joey before saying   
“I'm going to go over to Yugi's for awhile, he invited me to come over with Joey after you two duelled.” Kaiba didn't lose a step, only muttering his approval before disappearing down the steps, leaving the two younger boys behind.


	3. Dinner and Dueling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey and Kaiba finally duel, and everyone gathers for dinner.

Yugi walked out of the Cafeteria, intent on finding the rest of his friends. He had already texted Grandpa and checked with him about the night's plans, and was going to contact Mokuba after school to invite him. Wandering through the hallways, he let his mind wander back through the weeks then had been home.

Coming home was a shock to the young man, walking into his bedroom and realizing that for all intents and purposes, he was along. There was no other presence in the room. Nobody to talk to at night or comfort him when the stakes were to high. With a weary sigh, Yugi put his bag put his bag down and plopped on the bed, staring up at the ceiling at the twilight sky. A knock at the door brought Yugi out of his private thoughts, and he looked up just in time to see Malik appear in the doorway.  
“evening Yugi, your Grandpa told me to come up with my luggage-apparently we are sharing a room?” Malik questioned, looking the shorter boy over carefully.  
“Yeah, come on in Malik, we will have to set up a bed somewhere for you” Yugi said, sitting up and rubbing his temples gently. Malik sat down next to Yugi and put his arm around the other boy's shoulder, pulling him close as the shorter boy started to cry.

Yugi shook his head, trying to shake off his feelings of loneliness as he reached his classroom. Luckily, Tea was already sitting in her chair, chatting with Ryou. Yugi grinned at the two before plopping in his seat and immediately turning to invite the other two over, which was answered with an enthusiastic “Yes!”

***********************************************************************************************

Tea walked out of the school building and smiled. “Another week done!” She silently cheered, making her way over to the gang's meeting place. Luckily, all of the gang was going to come, the first hangout that they would have since Atem had left. Tea frowned at that thought, thinking about how tough the past few weeks had been for all of them. 

Yugi's emotional pain affected the whole gang and Tea was trying to keep her eyes on her friend. Then, Joey never showed up again after he had been dropped off at his apartment. 

After two days of no responses, Tristan had broke into the Wheeler's apartment, only to find it completely trashed and blood on the floor. Panicking, Tristan had called Tea and Ryou, begging them to come help him find Joey. Hours later, they had exhausted all of the usual spots. Tristan was ready to go to the police station, but Tea didn't want the news to get back to Serenity and make her panic before they knew something.  
Finally, their ground work paid off, and one of their school friends had seen Joey get into a car with a blonde girl.  
“That must be Mai” Tea said after hearing the description. Pulling out her phone, she located Mai's number and called it, hoping that the other woman had not changed phones again. She talked quietly into the phone for a few minutes before turning to Tristan and Ryou.  
“Joey is with Mai, I guess his father and him got into a fight and Mai saw him and picked him up.” Tristan growled, hitting the wall in frustration.  
“What the hell Joey, why didn't he just call me I would have helped him out.” Tristan grabbed a rock and was about to throw it when Ryou gently placed a hand on his shoulder.  
“I'm sure Joey had a good reason not to call one of us. Perhaps we should give him a chance to explain himself?” The Britain suggested, earning himself a dark glance form Tristan. The brunet threw the rock down the street before turning on his heel and walking away.

Tea attempted to clear her head of that memory, not wanting it to affect her night with her friends. Approaching the meeting place she saw Yugi's familiar mop of hair peeking out from under the branches.  
“Yugi!” she called, waving at her friend as she ran towards him. Yugi's face lit up as he waved back, and Tea embraced the boy, followed quickly by Ryou. Tristan and Duke were going to meet them at Yugi's, and Joey had already disappeared to go find Kaiba. Tea couldn't help but wonder how bad his duel was going to go-joey hadn't beaten Kaiba yet, and while the girl wanted to believe in her friends it was getting a little tedious.  
“Shall we get going then?” Ryou asked, startling Tea out of her thoughts. Tea smiled at the two former Millennium item holders before replying “Let's go!!”

*****************************************************************************************************

Tristan sat in Dukes car, staring out the window as Domino rolled by. The Dice Master drove smoothly without speaking to Tristan, allowing him to lose himself in his thoughts. Ever since they had come back, Tristan had been spending almost all of his free time with the other boy. At first they both thought that it was their mutual interest in Serenity that brought them together, but Tristan was beginning to doubt that. Perhaps it was the way he found himself staring at Duke when the other wasn't watching, or the way he would slightly blush inside when Duke would say hi name,. Either way, Tristan was smart enough to know what a crush felt like. He just wished it wasn't on this ego—maniac who had insisted on humiliating his friend.  
“ Guess it could be worse” Tristan thought “I could be feeling this for Kaiba.” Tristan blanched at the thought before turning to Duke.  
“What are we picking up at your shop anyway?” Duke blinded before twirling his hair yet again.  
“I promised Yugi's Grandpa I would being over some prototypes of my new game. He wants to talk about selling it at the shop.”  
Tristan grinned before replying “you know that your dice game is just like Duel Monsters right?” Duke just groaned as he kept driving.

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Mai sat in her car, parked around the corner from where Joey was suppose to be dueling Kaiba. He had refused to let her pick him up after school, instead insisting that he could take a bus to the Kaiba Corp Tower.  
Mai relented, the feelings of unease about tonight growing the longer she sat waiting for the boy. Groaning in frustration, she lowered her head onto the steering wheel, trying to collect her thoughts.  
“When did I become so needy anyway?” She thought, silently berating herself for allowing her feelings for Joey to overwhelm her. “I need to get out of here before I start becoming domesticated.”  
Sitting back up, she started to thumb through her phone, checking her e-mail for upcoming tournament. After all, she had told Joey that she was only going to be in town for a couple of weeks. Maybe it was time to convince him that he couldn't keep on hotel jumping with her. He was still in High School after all, he should be coming home to the same place every night. He deserved the stability that Mai herself had never gotten to enjoy. 

 

Mokuba bounced next to Joey, excited to go over to Yugi's again. “Do you think Yugi will help me with some of my cards? Seto won't even look at his deck any more!””  
“Wait a minute! Did he even bring his deck to duel me, or was he hoping that I wouldn't show up?” Joey questioned, wiggling his eyebrows at Mokuba. Mokuba grinned leading Joey down to the elevator.  
“May be you would have found out if you hadn't pissed him off!” Mokuba told the older boy, frowning slightly. “How did you get your card back anyway? Did you really beat Yugi in a card game?”  
“Of course I did Mokuba do you think Jumpin' Joey Wheeler would lie about winning a game?” Mokuba looked uneasily at Joey before shaking his head.  
“I guess not. I just wish that you wouldn't torment my brother like that. Ever since the whole Egypt thing he's been... Different.”  
“I think that losing Atem has changed all of us Mokuba. Maybe he needs some time to adjust, take a break and relax a little.” Joey suggested.  
“That's the problem, ever since we came back, Seto has lot his fire. He just sits in his office, typing away incessively. He doesn't eat, sleep, or come home at all. The only reason he even came out to see you was because he wanted to 'put you in your place once and for all'” Mokuba said, swiping his car to bring the elevator up to their floor.  
Joey slung his arm around the shorter boys' shoulders. “Don't worry Mokuba, I'm sure tings will be getting back to normal soon. I mean, we can't live in the past forever right?” Joey grinned at Mokuba before entering the elevator, ready to get over to Yugi's for dinner.

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Malik stood in Yugi's kitchen, starting dinner for his Grandpa by cutting up vegetables. Ever since Yugi had texted that he had invited everyone over for dinner, the house had been a flurry of activity. Malik couldn't wait to see everyone.  
Since he wasn't able to go to school, so his social interaction were limited to customers at the Game Shop, who weren't Ishizu and Odion had gone back to the museum, and his sister was about toe sign papers for an apartment so the three Ishtars could move out. Malik really didn't want to go with them, he wanted to stay here, with Yugi and his Grandpa, who was more of a father to him than the man who had sired Malik.  
The blonde stared down at the vegetables, trying to keep his memories at bay. He knew his dark help had been banished,but every once in a while a lingering voice played in the back of his mind. When he thought about his father, or the scars on his back hurt, he remembered the feelings of power he got when his other appeared- Taking down those who dared to hurt his host.  
Sometimes Malik missed haying that voice in his head, not that he wanted to involved in anymore taking over the world schemes, but having someone there. Marik may had been crazy, but his banishment had left a hole in Malik's life that the boy struggled to fill. Having friends helped, but sometimes Malik wondered in having gotten rid of half his soul was the right move.  
Mai parked outside the Game Shop, nervously fixing her skirt. “This is stupid! Why am I so worried about meeting Yugi's Grandpa? What do I think is going to happen?” She berated herself, flipping open a compact to check her makeup. When Joey had called, Mai had rushed home to find something appropriate to wear over. Even though pictures of her were always posted in the paper, she wanted to show Yugi's Grandpa that sh wasn't some tramp that was just using Joey for a high. Satisfied with her look, she turned to Joey, only to realize that he had already taken off with Mokuba. Mai rolled her eyes, annoyed at the boys lack of concederation. With that, she got out of the car and entered the game shop.  
“So then I used Time Roulette, and I managed to turn his dragons into stone! You should have seen the look on Kaiba's face!” Joey boasted, winking at Mokuba.  
Mokuba snorted, and Tea shook her head”So how did your brother beat Joey this Time?” She asked smiling at the Raven-haired boy. Mokuba shrugged before answering  
“They didn't even play. Joey told big brother about how he got hi Red Eyes back and Seto just exploded. You know how he is.”  
Tea smiled at the younger boy before giving him a hug. “I'm sure Kaiba will come around Mokuba. In the mean time, you have us to talk to!” Mokuba nodded before looking around the Game Shop.  
“Hey Joey, where's Mai? I though she was right behind us?” Joey glanced around and winced “She must be in the car still, I'll go get her!”  
“Don't bother Joseph I'm right her.” Joey grinned at the other blonde before sheepishly scratching his head.  
“Sorry Mai, I'm just so pumped after my duel with Kaiba I'm not thinking straight.”  
“You mean your 30 second non duel where my brother basically brushed you off like you were nothing?” Mokuba asked innocently, causing Yugi and Tea to giggle.  
“Hey, when one party accepts an invite then forfeits it counts as a duel. Therefore, I have beaten your brother in a duel. Period, end of story.” Joey pounded his fist on the counter to empathize his point.  
“Now Yugi where's Grandpa?Does he need help with anything? Yugi pointed at the back stock room door.  
“He's just sorting through the new shipment. Malik and Ryou are working on cooking dinner, and Ishizu and Odion are on their way with dessert. Duke took Tristan to his shop to pick up the prototype for some new game he has come up with, and they should be here soon.” Joey barely let Yugi finish his sentence before he was tugging on Mai's arm, leading her over to where Yugi's Grandpa was.

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Solomon Moto didn't even look up form his counting when the door swung open. He knew it would be Joey, after all, the blonde's voice carried pretty far. Holding up a hand, he indicated for the boy to wait a second so he could finish counting. When he was finished, he looked up and smiled at the two blonds. They look good together he had to admit to himself, and the look on his grandson's best friends face when he talked about mai made the old man happy. Solomon got off the floor and extended his hand, which the young woman took and shook firmly.  
“It's nice to officially meet you Mr. Moto, Joey talks about you all the time. So does Yugi.” “Joey's a great friend to my grandson, and has been a great ally during all of the turmoil of the past few years. Yugi speaks highly of you as well Ms. Valentine. I can't thank you enough for helping him during Duelist Kingdom. If you had not given him those star chips I would not be here now.” Maid blushed before smiling.  
“I was only trying to repay a debt. Your grandson saved me when I lost all my stars chips. I thought it was only fair to pay him back what I owed.” she admitted smiling at the other man. “Well in any case, thank you. I'm glad that you befriended Yugi, and I hope you will call me Grandpa. All his friends do..” Mai smiled at Solomon before nodding.  
“Now that you two are pals, can we help you with anything Grandps?” Joey asked, hope gleaning in his eyes.  
“if you promise not to take the best cards for yourself, I'd love the help.” Solomon scolded gently, smiling at Joey's innocent 'Who me' look. Satisfied that the boy would take his tasks seriously, Solomon handed him a box before turning to Mai and showing her how to sort through the shipments.

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“Finally we made it! How many boxes of crap did you have to bring!” Tristan grumbled, hoisting a box onto his shoulders. Duke just grinned.  
“I got out of helping with dinner, I don't know what your problem is!” Duke shot back, silently appreciating the view in front of him. Tristan grunted before walking up to the Game Shop, leaving Duke laughing behind him.  
Two hours later, dinner had been served and eaten and the gang was hanging out in groups throughout the house. Malik and Joey were trying out Duke's new game, laughing at Duke's increasing frustration at explaining the rules to them. After the 15th time one of them declared “It's just like Duel Monsters!” Duke gave up, tossing the rules at them before plopping down in frustration.  
Joey laughed before looking back down a the board.  
“Now, I think if I put this down here I'll be able to attack your monster Malik.” Joey smirked, “I still need my revenge from the last time we dueled!”  
Malik blinked before grinning himself. “You're on Wheeler!”  
Mai was in the kitchen helping Yugi's grandpa clean up after everyone had finished eating. “Grandpa, can we talk about something? She asked hesitantly, looking at the elder man.  
“Of Course Mai, what do you need my dear?” Solomon asked, sitting down at one of the barstools. Mai hesitated, before diving in.  
“I'm worried about Joey. I”m sure you know that his fahter has disappeared.” Solomon nodded, but didn't say anything. “well he's been staying with me, but I don't have a permanent residence in town. We've been talking, and he knows I'm going to go back on the circuit after the summer break. I just want to know that he is going to be ok.”  
Solomon nodded before looking out the window. “Ishizu and Odion will be moving out before the end of August, I have offered to let Malik stay here. That boy needs to be around some more young people to help heal his wounds. Once the two other Ishtars leave, Joseph can have the pull out couch in the living room. Yugi cold use the company anyway. I'm going to be leaving for a dig in a few months, and the extra help in the shop will be good.” Mai closed her eyes and nodded, relieved that she wasn't going to be totally abandoning Joey when she rejoined the dueling circuit.

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Mokuba waved good-bye to everyone, giving Yugi a hug in thanks. He had called Roland, and the security guard sent a car right over. Joey had protested, telling the younger boy that Mai would drop him off, but Mokuba wanted to go check in on his brother before going home, and he didn't think Seto seeing Joey was a good idea at the moment.  
Sliding into the back, he thanked the driver for coming out and asked him to drive to Kaiba Corp. Before they could move, the door swung open and Joey appeared, slinging in next to Mokuba. Handing the younger boy a bag the blonde smiled before stating  
“I packed up some leftovers for your brother. I know you're worried about him, and I'm sorry I pushed his buttons tody... there's a not in there for him too, give it to him when he calms down a little.” Mokuba smiled at Joey, and the older boy winked at him as he got back out the of the car. Mokuba grinned to himself as the car pulled away, hoping that some homemade food would convince Seto to come home with him. 

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I'd just like to thank everyone who's been reading this story, its been nagging at me for awhile and I've finally decided to put it down on paper. Please feel free to leave a comment below or just continue to enjoy!!!


	4. Studying the Plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mokuba talks to his brother, and the gang studies for their summer finals

A/N: So apparently what I see is not what always posts, and I have gone back through and fixed some of the spacing issues I have seen. Hopefully that will help with the flow of this story, and I finally got my laptop back so fingers crossed that will make it a bit easier. Thank you to everyone who has taken their time to read this fanfic, and I hope I continue to earn your readership! Now on to the fic!!!

 

The day after his ill-timed 'duel with Joey, Kaiba was back to pacing around his office. Part of him knew that he was being irrational, but the thought of a no good duelist like that DOG beating Yugi burned him to his core.   
“That honor should be him!” He thought, wishing that he could un-hear what Wheeler had told him the previous night.   
“I wouldn't be surprised if Yugi threw that game to give him back his Red Eyes. I never even wanted that low-life in my tournament in the first place, and now this.” Kaiba snarled, throwing his coffee cup against the wall. He felt a smidge of satisfaction at the way it shattered, leaving a smattering of porcelain dust on the wall.   
“What the hell is wrong with me? When did I lose control like this. Why am I letting someone get under my skin like this?” Abruptly, his thoughts went to Yugi-Or Yami, or Atem, or whatever it was that the shorter duelist wanted to call himself. Kaiba couldn't help but remember how ALIVE he felt while dueling Yugi.   
There definitely was a difference in the boy when he dueled. The soft voice of hue child-like eyes game way to a voice of authority and wisdom, and eyes that looked like they had seen a thousand lifetimes and lived to tell about them. The way the boy dueled as if the cards were apart of him had caused many sleepless nights for the young billionaire. After waking up one to many times with the memory of dueling the spirit on his mind, Kaiba knew he was attracted to this other half of Yugi's.   
Of course, admitting that would cause way to many problems, so Kaiba buried his feelings deep inside himself. That's why he kept denying his roots- and the fact that he kept remembering parts of another life.   
Visions of gold headgear and that accursed Rod would filter through his dreams, and sometimes when he dueled he felt as if his Blue yes were alive. It was almost as if he had witnessed their very creation. These feelings were the reason why he felt driven to destroy the fourth version of his car that Yugi's grandfather had owned.   
After all, Gozuboro had taught him not to give up anything that belonged to him, even if it meant destroying it in the process. Of course, now he realized the foolishness of destroying the card he held so dear. His actions that day so long ago were like that of a jilted lover catching the cheater in the act, and Kaiba had tried so hard to keep his composure.   
He thought he had finally achieved his goal of not letting Duel Monsters get to him until Joey flipped over that card last night. Hearing the blondes pleased voice telling him that Joey, not Kaiba, had been the 1st to really beat Yugi had broken something deep inside the blue-eyed duelist.   
“Somehow I have to put that useless blond in him place” Kaiba thought, his train of thought interrupted with a soft knocking at his office door. Mokuba's face poked in, watching his big brother carefully. Kaiba gave him a curt nod before settling at his desk, folding his hands together and placing his chin on them.   
Kaiba watched his brother intensely, not wanting to betray his emotions. After all, Mokuba had been with him last night, and who knew what they had said or done with having dinner. Mokuba walked into the room, approaching the desk before standing before his big brother.   
“I came here last night to check on you, but you were a sleep and I couldn't get in.” Mokuba accused, folding his arms and matching Seto's glare.   
“Why won't you come home Seto? What are you doing here that's so much more important that spending time with me? I know you don't have that much work to do and I miss you!” Kaiba sighed, rubbing his temples as he collected his thoughts. “Mokuba-”   
“And another thing, why did you blow joey off last night? I know he can be a little annoying, but he's trying to keep you from burying yourself in a job that sucks the life out of you. He cares about us, just like Yugi and the rest of the gang does.”   
Kaiba's eyes narrowed dangerously at each word that came from the younger Kaiba's mouth, and by the time Mokuba stopped, he was digging his nails into the palms of his hands in frustration.   
“I'm not discussing this with you Mokuba. If you want to spend time with them, be my guest I will not stop you. However for myself, I am done with them.” Mokuba turned away from his brother, shaking his head sadly. “  
Well, Yugi invited me to come over while they have a study session today. I'll be home for dinner, if you care that is.” Mokuba stated, heading towards the door. As he went to leave, the bag he carried banged against his legs and he turned back towards his brother's desk. He walked over, placed the bag in front of Seto before continuing his walk out of the room. Kaiba waited until he was sure that Mokuba was gone, then he looked inside the bag. Surprise crossed his features when he found containers with food in them. Salad, some sort of pasta dish, and a couple of cookies. Realizing that this must be leftovers from last night, he pushed the dishes away, annoyed at how the geek squad kept pushing their friendship on him.   
Then he saw something at the bottom of the bag, and his mood instantly got worse. His own name was scrawled on the front, and the handwriting could only belong to the dog himself. He immediately shoved the note in a drawer, intent on not letting the blonde ruin his first decent meal in weeks. Settling back in at the computer, Kaiba went back to work, making a mental note to stop in time for lunch. Also to be home tonight for dinner. After all, it wasn't going to do to have Mokuba spend all his time with them. 

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Yugi sat on his bed, staring at out the windows. It was raining, and he watched the drops slide down the roof. His thoughts wandered back to all the times that Yami would be sitting next to him, talking about their next step to save the world. Or, he would be comforting Yugi when his Grandpa was kidnapped, or trying to convince Yugi to trust him when he almost killed Kaiba, or protecting Yugi when he was being bullied, or... Yugi rolled on his side and sighed. He knew he should get up, at dinner last night the gang had decided to have a study sessions for finals today. (Really, they all knew it was an excuse to spend some time together and eat more food) but Yugi wasn't really motivated to move.   
A soft snore distracted him, and he smiled to see Ryou sleeping on the floor. The British boy had stayed over last night, claiming that his own home was too cold and lonely to stay in. Grandpa relented, muttering about how he was going to open up a school for wayward boys. Yugi knew his Grandpa was being kind because he was concerned, but Yugi was going to take advantage of his Grandpa's concern until he felt more sure of himself.   
Sitting up, Yugi noticed that Malik was watching him, not saying a world. Yugi nodded at the Egyptian, who got up and joined Yugi on the bed. Ryou woke up from the sudden movement, and immediately joined the other two boys on the bed. He curled up on one side with Malik took the other, squeezing Yugi in the middle. Yugi inhaled, trying to keep the tears from falling.   
“I miss Bakura.” Ryou admitted, causing Malik to stare at him open-mouthed. “I know he was a thief and a murderer, and he used me and others to take over the world, but he protected me. He taught me how to defend myself, and most of all, he gave me you guys.” Yugi wrapped an arm around the other boy, smiling gently a him.   
“Sometimes I miss Marik. I mean, I'm glad he's gone, and I don't regret banishing him but he was a part of me. I created him to deal with my father's abuse, but he was there. If I was able to control him, maybe things wouldn't have gone out of control.” Malik admitted, staring down at his hands.   
Yugi giggled at the thought. “which part? Maybe we could have group therapy? What do you thing they'll diagnose us with? Multiple personalities or schizophrenia?”   
Malik and Ryou laughed, the thoughts of trying to explain about other halves and Ancient Egyptian self's sounding ridiculous even to them.   
“Maybe that's not such a good idea” Malik admitted, sliding off the bed. “But Yugi, if you miss Yami you can always talk to us. We might not have had the bond with our others that you did, but we understand the feelings of loss you have. It's hard to loose a part of yourself, no matter what the circumstances around it were.” Yugi grinned before sitting up and bouncing off the bed. “Let's get ready for the rest of the gang they should be here soon!”

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Four hours later, the house looked like a tornado had gone through it. The gang had split up into groups, taking turns quizzing each other on various subjects and eating snacks. Odion had stayed home from the museum to help, and he was surprisingly good at Math and science, mostly because he spent so much time underground doing nothing but reading various textbooks. Joey was happy to spend time on some calculus, and Odion painstakingly explained each problem and solution to the blonde.   
Joey listened, and the pieces started to come together. Finally, he answered a page of questions by himself, and his resulting excitement caused the rest of the gang's studying to come to a crashing halt. Mokuba, who had been quizzing Yugi and Tea on science and history questions, joined Joey in his celebrating.   
Ryou shook his head, tearing himself away from studying English with Tristan to watch the two boys celebrate. Joey finally got himself under control, and plopped down on Tristan, wrestling his friend to the ground. Tristan was more that happy to oblige Joey's roughhousing, all those hours of sitting and studying making his muscles twitchy.   
Mai just shook her head, turning back to Duke and flipping back through her flash cards. Hearing the commotion, Grandpa walked in from the shop, frowning at the two boys on the floor.   
“Perhaps we should have lunch now before you boys break something.” Tea immediately offered to help Malik get the leftovers ready, while the rest of the gang cleaned up the rooms and set the table.   
Lunch was a quiet affair, everyone's thoughts on their various exams. Finally, Mokuba broke the silence.   
“So, what is everyone doing for summer break?” “A whole lot of nothing” seemed to be the answer, and Mokuba smiled.   
“I was thinking about taking Mai to go see Serenity for a few days, but other than that we are free. What are you thinking Mokuba? An exotic vacation to some remote island? Around-the-World trip? Fights to the death in the middle of the Atlantic?” Joey asked, smiling at the raven-haired boy.   
“Well, actually... I've been talking to Seto, and we thought it would be a good idea to have some sort of event at Kaibaland. Now that all of the crazy, world ending stuff is done, we want to do some charity work. We want to give kids a chance to learn some strategies from the best duelist, and raise some money too.“  
Duke rolled his eyes, not liking where this was going. “I see this ending badly for all of us. Every time we do something Duel Monsters related, somebody ends up getting hurt.”   
Yugi nodded, memories of past tournaments filtering through his head.   
“I know that he have had a few... issues before, but I'm hoping that this will go better. Plus, we are donating the proceeds to help build a house at Domino hospital for families to stay in while they are getting treatment at the new cancer wing they are building. Kaiba Corp is giving 10,000,000 Yen to start the project, plus 10% of all ticket sales for the month of August. If we can pull of this event, all of the proceeds will go towards construction costs of the hotel.” “Come on Yug', it's for charity, we can't say no can we? Joey grinned, grabbing the shorter duelist and rubbing his head.   
Yugi nodded, looking over at Mokuba. “Ok, I'm in. What do you need me to do?” Mokuba grinned, happy that his plan was coming together so well.   
“Let me grab my bag and I'll go over the details with you!” Mokuba ran into the other room, while the rest of the group exchanged glances at each other, wondering what issues this new event was going to bring.


	5. End of school

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last day of school before summer break is here, and Mokuba has some concerns with his brothers behavior.

A/N: Someone mentioned that they were a little confused with the timing of this fic. In Japan, school starts in April and ends in March, with a summer break in August. I follow this timeline in my fic, which means that the gang will have another 8 months before they graduate. 

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Ever since his ill -timed duel with Joey, Kaiba was back to pacing around his office. Part of him knew that he was being irrational, but the thought of a no-good duelist like that DOG beating Yugi burned him to his core.   
'That honor should be mine!' he thought, wishing that he could un-hear what Wheeler had told him.   
“I wouldn't be surprised if Yugi threw that game to give him back that red eyes. After all, they always talk about their friendship, and Yugi is sickenly nice to everyone. I never even wanted that low-life in my tournament in the first place, and now this.” Kaiba snarled, throwing his coffee cup against the wall feeling a smidge of satisfaction at the way it shattered. Kaiba stared at the wall, looking at the porcelain dust on the wall.   
'What the hell is wrong with me? When did I lose control like this? Why am I letting someone so worthless get under my skin?' Abruptly, his thoughts went to Yugi-or Yami, or Atem-or whatever it was that the shorter duelist wanted to call himself. Kaiba couldn't help but remember how alive he felt while dueling the boy. Their was defiantly something there, something that burned within Kaiba even now.   
'I need to get a grip, I have a company to run and a brother to provide for... I can't let this affect my sanity anymore. I have to find a way to forget about dueling, and concentrate on what really matters. I can't lose everything I've worked so hard for.'

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Finally, it was the last day of school before summer break. Joey sat in his chair, twitching under the anticipation of a few weeks off. Spending time with Mai had improved his studying habits immensely, and for once Joey wasn't one of the last few students rushing to finish an exam before the papers were collected.   
The only problem with that was Joey was stuck waiting until the teacher allowed him to leave. Leaning back in his chair, Joey allowed his gaze to drift to the window, only to meet ice-blue. Kaiba's glare didn't falter, just kept staring at Joey. The blonde shifted in his seat, looking back down at his test, feeling the Kaiba glare peering into his soul.   
Joey fidgeted in his seat yet again, peeking on his other side hoping to lock eyes with one of his friends. Unfortunately, they were to busy finishing the test to notice Kaiba's stare-down. Joey settled his glaze on the clock, silently counting down the minutes until class was over. Why had he told Kaiba that he beat Yugi anyway? What had he been trying to Prove?”

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“Freedom!!!” Tristan shouted, throwing a stack of papers into the air as he rushed out the door, Joey close by his side.   
Tea rolled her eyes at the boys, shaking her head as they began celebrating the end of school. “Come on you two, its only summer break, we still have 8 months of school left.” Joey smirked at Tea before winking at Tristan. “We know that Tea, but we made it through exams, and that calls for a victory dance!!” With that, Tristan and Joey locked arms and started to sing as they Can-Can danced in the quad. Tea couldn't help but laugh, joined soon by Yugi and Ryou, who watched the boys in fascination. Duke walked up to the group, eyeing Joey and Tristan carefully before looking over at Yugi.   
“Since those two are busy being fools, you guys want to go to the arcade for a bit? I think we could all use a little bit of relaxation after the week we had.”   
“I think that's a great idea, but I need to get to the Game Shop. I promised Grandpa I'd help him with the new shipment, and I'm sure Malik is going crazy by himself.”   
“How about if we all go Yugi, I'm sure your Grandpa could use the help, and we can go to the arcade in the morning?” Tea suggested, raising an eyebrow at Joey and Tristan who had given up on dancing and were now wrestling on the floor.   
“I think that would be a wonderful time, beats going home and waiting for my father to call.” Ryou stated, beaming at the thought of getting out of his empty house for another night.   
Yugi grinned, nodding his head in agreement. 'Grandpa's going to have to build an extension for everyone soon enough' he thought, 'I wonder how long it will be before he starts telling me my friends can't come over like this anymore, and I end up alone like before.' Yugi shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts before they lead him down a depressing road. Plastering a smile on his face, Yugi walked over to the two wrestling boys, waving his arms to get their attention.   
“You guys want to go to the Game Shop for awhile? Grandpa could use some help with the shipment again.” Tristan flashed a thumbs up at Yugi while he untangling himself from Joeys grip. Joey laid on the ground, attempting to catch his breath from all the rough housing. Tristan offered him a hand, which Joey accepted, allowing the other boy to pull him to his feet. Both the boys shook themselves off, dirt flying as they attempted to clean their already messy uniforms.  
“Yug I'll definitely come help you and Gramps, but I gotta go talk to Mokuba first. He texted me before last period and asked if I could meet him at his school to talk about something. I'm sure Kaiba is still obsessing about that duel you and I had, but Mokuba is really upset about it. I'll meet you guys after... I'll bring Mai, maybe she can flirt with some of the boys to get them to buy more cards or something.” Joey winked at Yugi before picking his bag up off the floor, waving at his friends as he jogged off in the direction of Mokuba's school, which luckily was only about a 10 minute walk away. 

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Mokuba waited by the front doors, looking out every so often for Joey. Roland stood nearby, idly playing with a switchblade. Mokuba stared at the bodyguard as he effortlessly opened and shut the knife, practicing different techniques to disarm someone as quickly and efficiently as possible. Mokuba's attention went back to the front doors, where he saw a familiar mop of blonde hair.   
'Finally' he thought to himself before turning to Roland.   
“Can you stay here for a minute? I want to talk to Joey alone, and I don't need you intimidating him while we have our discussion.” Roland nodded, pulling out his sunglasses and putting them on, then crossing his arms while he turned his attention to the front doors. Mokuba pointed to a cherry blossom tree directly in their line of sight.   
“If I move from that tree, feel free to come out to us and check that everything's OK.” With that the raven-haired boy walked out the front door, waving at Joey who was standing around with a dopey look on his face.   
Mokuba shook his head, understanding completely with his brothers assumption that the blonde's intelligence wasn't all there. Of course, what Joey lacked in smarts he made up for with passion and loyalty, which really just aligned him with being a dog like Seto always called him. Mokuba couldn't help but wonder if their was some kind of respect behind the dog names, not that his big brother would ever admit it.   
Joey smiled as the boy approached, and waved. Mokuba grabbed him by the arm and walked him by the tree, explaining quickly that he had established a base to keep Roland from joining them. Joey acknowledge the deal before looking the shorter Kaiba brother over carefully.   
“So, what do you need to talk to me about Mokuba? Is there something wrong with your brother that you need help with, or do you just want to soak in the awesomeness that is Joey Wheeler?”   
“Actually, I do want to talk to you about Seto... I'm worried about him Joey. Ever since we came back from Egypt he's been... strange. I went into his room a couple of weeks ago and he was rolling around in bed muttering about Yugi's other half. He kept saying he was going to strangle Atem, and shouting in his sleep. Big brother never has nightmares like that, so I crawled into his bed to see if I could help him sleep better. When he woke up the next morning, he was exhausted and annoyed at me, and he took off for work as soon as he could shower and change. All he did at work the next few days was pace around, talking about how he would never get his vengeance on Yugi for defeating him, and how he was never going to be able to reclaim his title.”   
Mokuba paused, giving Joey a chance to absorb what he was being told. Joey wrapped his arm around Mokuba in a comforting gesture, allowing the younger boy to continue.   
“I keep hoping he'll get over that, I mean its been so long now I'm sure people will forget he lost a game to one person, but he just obsesses over it. Then, after you told him that you defeated Yugi to get your card back, his obsession only got worse. Only now, its over you! I'm afraid he's going to come after you again, and this time its going to be really really bad. I've never seen him like this before, all he does is talk about how he's going to put you in your place and get his vengeance on Yugi that way. I don't want to loose you guys, now that we are all friends, but I don't want to upset my brother either, he's the only family I got!”   
Mokuba finally stopped talking, staring down at his hands while he waited for Joey to respond. The blond stared off into the distance for a minute, mulling over his responses to Mokuba's confessions.   
“Well Mokuba, the way I see it, your brother needs to talk to someone about his feelings. Obviously, we all know how much dueling means to him but he's taking it too far. I really don't think its work hurting someone over, especially not me!” Joey grinned, nudging the other boy causing him to giggle.   
“I'm sorry I brought up all these feelings for your brother, I was just trying to get him to come out of his shell a little, to loosen up and enjoy playing the game for once. He's so serious all the time, and I wanted to remind him that Duel Monsters can just be about friends playing each other and bringing out the best in each other, and that every duel doesn't have to be about saving the world and being a champion.”  
Mokuba nodded, wiping away a few tears that had fallen down his cheeks before turning and waving Roland over to join them.   
“Hey kid...”   
“Yea Joey?”   
Mokuba asked, not quite looking the blonde in the eye.   
“I'll try to stay out of your brother's hair for awhile, and maybe by the time the big fund-raiser comes around he will be feeling more like himself again, and things will go back to normal.”   
“I hope so” Mokuba mumbled, watching as Roland walked over to the car and pulled it over to where the boys were standing. Mokuba opened the door before looking back at Joey.   
“Do you want a ride anywhere?” Joey nodded before climbing in, pulling out his phone to test Mai to meet him at Yugi's before inviting Mokuba to come hang out with them. Mokuba agreed, and the two boys rode to Yugi's in silence, both of their thoughts turned to the blue-eyed brunet that currently was locked inside his Kaiba Corp. building.   
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Later on that night, Joey laid in bed, completely spent. While he was at the Game Shop, Grandpa had invited him to come stay with Yugi while the older Moto was off on another dig, and Joey had graciously accepted.   
When he mentioned it to Mai, the woman had been guarded in her congratulations, and Joey had quickly pulled out of her that she had known beforehand that Grandpa was going to offer him a place. While Joey was touched that she cared that much, he was still a little annoyed that she had gone behind his back and made plans for his life like she was his parent. However, he knew her intentions were good, and with so little time before he graduated he really shouldn't take off and follow Mai on her world dueling tours... there was plenty of time to do that after graduation in March, if that's what he chose to do.   
In the mean time he was going to enjoy her company, and worry about the rest later. 'Speaking of which' He thought to himself, turning his attention towards the bathroom door. Mai had locked herself in there when they returned from Yugi's, and the lack of noise coming from the room bothered Joey.   
No running water, no flushing noises made him wonder what she was up too, and he decided to risk his own safety and knock. Getting up, he stood in front of the door and knocked gently, leaning in to see if he could hear anything.   
“Hey Mai, I'm going to go get a drink real quick do you need anything while I'm gone?” A quick no was his reply and Joey walked out the door, remembering to grab his keycard on the the way. Walking down the hallway, he reached the drink machine, grabbing a water and some ice.   
He quickly drank down half the bottle, the cold liquid helping with his slight headache. After walking around the small room for a minute, he decided to make his way back to Mai. He took his time going back, hoping she would be out of the bathroom so they could talk. Joey smiled to himself, knowing how lucky he really was to have a woman in his life who was not only beautiful but intelligent and caring too. He slid his keycard into the door and opened in, noting the bathroom light was no longer on.   
“Hey Mai, I brought you some ice in case you need a drink later-” He stopped short as he caught a glimpse of her, standing in the corner wearing high heels and a matching bra and panty set. She grinned at his expression, walking smoothly in front of the blonde boy before wrapping her arms around him.   
“I thought we could have our own private end of session party right now Joseph. After all, you've been a very good boy and you deserve an award” She purred, pulling Joey into a deep kiss. Joey ran his hands over her body, enjoying the feel of her skin quivering at his touch. Breaking the kiss, he gently lowered Mai onto the bed, and as he undid her bra and threw it on the floor, Joey couldn't help but think about how very lucky indeed he truly was.


	6. Summer time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer break is finally here, and some drama ensues as the temp gets warmer. Meanwhile, Kaiba Corps Fundraiser is here, and everyone joins together to make money for the new hotel.

Duke stood at the arcade the next morning, waiting for the rest of the gang to show up. Looking to his left, he saw Tristan standing awkwardly, not quite looking Duke in the eye. Duke sighed, knowing that it was up to him to break the tension between the two boys.   
“So about last night...” he trailed off, not sure how to start this conversation.   
“Listen Duke, I understand where you are coming from, I'm just not sure if I feel the same way about you.”   
“I understand that, but how will you know if you're not even willing to try and see what happens?” Tristan sighed, running his hand through his pointed hair as if that was going to give him all the answers.   
“That kiss was really good Duke, but I still have feelings for Serenity, and I can't turn tables like that and just like someone else, especially not the one whose been my rival for her affections!”   
Duke shook his head, trying to marshal his arguments. “I wasn't really a rival you know, all those things I did to get her attention were to get your attention... I just wasn't sure how to tell you before.”   
Tristan bit his bottom lip before looking away, hoping that someone would appear to save him from this conversation. His eyes light up when he saw Tea approach, Ryou right next to her and they were... holding hands?!?!   
“What the hell is this man? I didn't know you two were dating!” Tristan yelled, bounding over to Ryou and affectionally giving him a noogie.   
Tea rolled her eyes and dropped Ryou's hand, pushing Tristan's shoulder.   
“Ryou and I have been talking for awhile now, and we decided to give a relationship a try. We just wanted to wait until after all the studying was done before we told everyone.” Tristan smiled at his two friends, feeling uncomfortable as Duke's eyes fell on him.   
“Well I'm glad that some people are able to work things out and get together. Congrats you two, how about a DDR round to celebrate?” Ryou groaned, shaking his hair at the Dice Master in frustration.   
“You want me to look like a total wanker in front of my girlfriend Duke?” He asked jokingly. “Don't worry Ryou, Tea knows how much of a spaz you are Ryou and she likes you anyway! Come on guys, lets get our groove on before everyone else gets here!” Duke said, leading the group over to the machines.   
“Come on Tea, i'll take you on first.” Duke stated, throwing his jacket to Tristan before jumping up on the platforms with the female following him. 

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Cracking open an eye, Joey rolled over in bed to see that Mai was still sleeping. He wiggled closer to her, gently placing his arm over her and pulling her closer. Mai didn't stir, and Joey took the chance to study her carefully. Mai's carefully combed hair was a mess, and without her makeup she looked more like a teenager than the 25-year-old that she was.   
Gently leaning in, he kissed her on the eyelids, causing them to flutter as she woke up. Mai smiled at him, pulling him closer as she kissed Joey on the mouth. His hands ran down her body, and Mai arched her back, wanting nothing more for this moment to continue on forever. A small beeping noise disturbed her, and she looked over to see the alarm going off. Frowning, she reached over to hit it, hoping Joey wouldn't notice the time.   
Unfortunately, he had already pulled his hands back, and was grabbing his robe to get a shower before meeting up with his friends. Stopping at the bathroom door, he looked over at Mai before winking and pointing into the room. Mai grinned, grabbing her robe to join him in cleaning up.  
After showering, Joey was sitting on the toilet seat allowing Mai to blow dry his long blond hair.   
“You know, this would be so much easier if you would just get it cut already... Your hair takes longer to do than mine!”  
“Hey this is my style woman! My hairs been like this for years and I like it like that and if you don't thats just too bad!” Joey joked, fixing his shaggy do in the mirror after Mai finished blow drying. Mai smiled at him, turning the blow dryer on herself. Joey watched her in the mirror as she finished drying her hair, fiddling with the buttons on his coat.   
Mai arched her eyebrows, wondering what was on Joey's mind that he couldn't sit still for 5 minutes while she finished up. Placing the blow dryer on the sink, she turned to Joey, giving him a pointed look.   
“What is wrong with you hun? You look like someone just stole your favorite card.” Joey fidgeted some more, trying to figure out what he was thinking and put it into words.   
“I've been thinking about moving in with Yugi after the summer break. I know school is important but I don't want to spend that much time away from you. I thought that maybe I could join you on the circuit, between the two of us we would be unstoppable!”   
“Joseph, you can't come with me, you know that.” Mai said gently, placing her hands on the younger boys shoulders.   
“Why not? Are you that excited to get rid of me or something? I mean, you didn't finish school and you are doing just fine! Why can't we just move on to the next part of our lives right now!” “I thought you were ok with this! You told me last night that we had plenty of time to be together once you were finished with school. You're friends would hate me if I let you quit now, when you're so close to graduation! What changed since then Joseph.” Joey paused, looking at Mai warily while she gripped the sink in frustration.   
“It's the sex isn't it. You don't really care if your with me or not, all you care about is having someone to play in bed with!”   
“That's not it all all!!! I'm not here because I want to sleep with you all the time. I'm here because I love you and I want to be with you.” Mai froze as the words tumbled out of Joey's mouth, hoping that he hadn't said what she had thought she had heard. A quick look at his face made her realize that she hadn't mis-heard, and Mai reached for Joey's hand. Placing it over her heart, she stared at the blonde, thoughts turning in her own head.   
“Joey, you're to young to understand love, and I am not the person to have those feelings for. I care about you, but I'm not going to settle down with someone who is barely old enough to drive. I thought this was just going to be two people who cared about each other and enjoyed spending time together, not something serious.” Joey sighed before getting up off the toilet seat, pushing pass Mai.   
Standing at the door, he paused, turning to Mai before saying “You're going to have to let someone in at some point Mai, just make sure you do it before you lose everything you've worked for.” With that he left the room, grabbing his bag before telling Mai that he would see her at the arcade. Mai sighed heavily, leaning against the sink as she tried to calm her shaking arms. 

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Yugi watched the epic dance off between Duke and Tea with an open mouth. After losing by a margin the first time, Duke jumped off the stage, claiming that he would have his revenge. Tristan and Ryou went next, both of them laughing so hard they couldn't even keep up with the song. Yugi had shown up by then, and he took a turn with Malik, unable to keep up with the former tomb keeper due to his short legs. After that, Duke and Tea took another round, Duke winning buy a sizeable margin to which Tea came back in the next round.   
Yugi snickered as the two stared each other down, enjoying the care-free air around him. He looked at his watch, staring at the time, wondering where Joey was. While Tea and Duke finished up round four, he looked around the arcade apprehensively.   
His eyes looked over to the crane machines where he caught a glimpse of Mai, watching the dance off from the shadows. Yugi walked over, wondering why Mai wasn't joining their group. “Hey Mai what's going on? Where's Joey?”   
“He took the bus, we got into a little argument this morning.” Mai admitted, looking at the other boy.   
“Oh..” Yugi said, letting his voice trail off, unable to come up with something to say.   
“It's ok Yugi, it was a stupid disagreement and I'm sure we will work it out.”   
“Work what out?” Joey questioned, walking up behind her.   
“Joseph Wheeler where have you been! I drove around looking for you for an hour and you just showed up here now!” Joey looked at Mai before shrugging.   
“I took the long way and walked here. Sorry.” With that he took off towards the dancing fools, leaving Mai staring after him, Yugi's hand resting on her arm in an attempt to comfort her. After 2 hours of playing the various games in the arcade, the gang agreed to go to Burger World for lunch, after all the running around they were all starving.   
Once they were sitting in their booths, Yugi turned to Joey, pulling out an envelope. “So, this showed up at the Game Shop yesterday. It's from Pegasus.” Everyone's head snapped up at hearing the mans name, and Joey stared at Yugi with his mouth open.   
“What does he want from you now Yugi? Another plot to take over your soul to get back his dead wife or something?”   
“No Tristan its nothing like that. It's a business proposal. He said he's been watching Joey and me duel, and he wants to offer us a paid position with the company advertising Duel Monsters to a new generation.” Joey's eyes widen, looking at the envelope that Yugi had put in his hands.   
“He wants to tell our story, about how our faith in the heart of the cards and each other helped us defeat groups of people who were trying to take over the world.” Tea smiled, her eyes shining as she grabbed Ryou's hand.   
“I think that's wonderful! You guys can let everyone know that the power of friendship helped saved the world! It will be an amazing way to reach people with no hope!” Joey opened the envelope, staring at the proposal in his hands.   
“So what do we do if we want to accept it Yugi?”   
“Pegasus wants us to sleep on it, he wants us to be sure that he isn't trying to pull anything with us. Grandpa is going to have one of his friends look it over for us, and then we can decide what to do from there.” Joey nodded, pondering the papers in his hand while Mai looked at him. 

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The group broke up after lunch, Yugi and Malik needed to get back to the game shop, and everyone else was to busy pondering Pegasus's alternative motives to really want to hang out anymore.   
Joey let Mai take him back to the hotel, still wondering what he was going to do. On one hand, it would be a great way to earn some money and spend more time with his best friend, on the other, he would be working for Pegasus, a man who had tried to kill all of them at one point.   
“What are you thinking hun?” Mai asked, taking a hand off the steering wheel to gently lay on top of Joeys knee.   
“I'm seriously considering this Mai, I mean, if it doesn't take to much time away from school. I hate mooching off of everyone, and the money i've won participating in the last few tournaments isn't going to last forever.”   
“I think its something to seriously look into. You can always use the money to come see me on school vacations or something.” Joey looked at Mai, smiling at her before looking back down at the proposal in his hand.

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The next few weeks flew by. Mokuba had cemented down the details for the fundraiser, admitting in private to Yugi that he was really pushing this to help get Kaiba Corp back on the map. The company was still down a bit after the Dartz issue, and Mokuba hoped that helping the city get back on its feet would help ease the publics distrust of Kaiba Corp, and most importantly, his brother.   
Yugi couldn't help but be excited, the prepping for the big day helped him forget his sadness over loosing Yami. Joey and Yugi had met with Grandpa's lawyer friend, who had offered to come with them to fill out a contract with Pegasus. The silver-haired man had agreed to let them negotiate a contract, and before long they were signing papers and shaking hands. Pegasus then told him he wasn't going to start them on his payroll until after they went back to school, but he did give them both a small check to let them do some 'cleaning up' so they would be ready.   
They both took the hint and did some shopping, not changing their looks but updating them so they would look presentable when the first press conference came around. Meanwhile, their friends murmured to themselves their concerns, and Duke couldn't help but feel a little bit of jealousy that they were getting his role models attention. 

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Finally, the day of the big fundraiser came, and KaibaLand was buzzing with anticipation.  
Joey watched from his section of Kaibaland as everyone scurried around him. It was 4 minutes until the Park opened, and he was pumped.   
Mokuba had managed to pull off the impossible, and Joey couldn't help but be proud of the younger boy. Two days after he had mentioned having a fund-raiser, the invitations had arrived in the mail.   
Joey and Yugi had responded immediately, and Mai still followed. Mokuba had invited Ryou and Malik, along with Ishizu and Odion, who had declined since they were heading back to Egypt. Rebecca was coming along with Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, and others who had participated in various tournaments over the years.   
Even Grandpa was going to be there, and Mokuba had showcases the Game Shop as the 'official' store of the event. In return, Grandpa was writing a check for 10% of all the stores sales for the month of August, which Grandpa was only happy to do when he totaled up the sales.   
Mokuba hadn't stopped there, either. As soon as Yugi had joined, Mokuba put up a website announcing the event, and offering Presale Ticktes. Sales went through the roof, and they were planning for over 60,000 people to show up.   
Smaller versions were being help at Kaibaland Europe and America, with those proceeds going to local charities. Of course, Japan got the best duelists, and it seemed that they were going to make a huge percentage of their goal of course, 3,435,480,000 yen was a lot of money to raise, but if anybody could get this started Joey had no doubt it would be Mokuba. Joey paced the room he was in, admiring all of the products that were available. There were photo-cards, clothing items, plushies, buttons, even snack foods with either Joey's face of pictures of his red-eyes on them.   
There were even #teamJoey shirts available, which served a special purpose For every person who bought and posted a picture of themselves under the hashtag, KaibaCorp would donate an additional 100 yen to the cause. Of course, it was a competition, and the two duelist who won would face each other at the final event of the day. Mai, Ryou, Yugi, Joey, Malik and Kaiba were in the tournament, as well as Pegasus himself.   
The Duel Monsters creator had been tickled pink to be invited, and had offered to match every contribution to help make their goals. Joey wasn't too sure about the silver-haired man, but Yugi and Mokuba both wanted to include him after the Dartz incident. After all, Pegauss had helped them, and for some reason the two shorter boys forgave him for all the bad things that he had done before. Joey knew that he should forgive Pegasus as well, after all the man was going to be his employer, but Joey wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget either. 

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Mokuba walked around the back end of the park, monitoring the flow of people. He smiled at Tristan, who was following around behind him, acting as a body guard. Mokuba had refused to let any of the regular security men follow him, and had only agreed to Tristan when his brother threatened to cancel the whole event.   
Mokuba picked up his walkie to check everyone's position before turning to the brunet next to him.   
“How do you think its going so far Tristan?” Tristan looked around at all the people going past before grinning.   
“I think this is going to be a kick-ass even Mokuba! I'm thinking that half of Japan is going to be here at some point today!” Mokuba rolled his eyes at the boys' exaggeration before grinning again. Bouncing around excitedly the younger boy waved at a few people as they passed.   
Tristan placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing the boy forward. “If I'm going to be your security detail, you need to listen and not draw attention to yourself little Kaiba.” Mokuba glared at his friend. Tristan stared right back at him before checking his watch.   
“Come on, its time to go make our rounds. Let's hit up Joey first, I can't wait to tell him he's in 4th behind Yugi, Kaiba, and Pegasus!” With that the two boys took off, intent on spoiling their blonde friends day.

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Pegasus stood outside the duel arena staring at the building apprehensively. He hadn't dueled since Yugi had beaten him during Duelist Kingdom and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to even be around for the main event.   
Luckily for the older man, his computer techs were able to 'adjust' the final counts, and the winners ended up being Yugi and Joseph. Pegasus wanted the crowd to adore these two as friends and duelists, and it had the added benefit of getting under Kaiba's skin.   
Pegasus had noticed the way Kaiba had looked at Yugi-or rather, the spirit of the Puzzle, and he knew Kaiba had feelings for the former Monarch. The former Millennium Eye wearer may have lost his object, but he still was able to cast about in peoples minds for important information, and his most recent scan into Kaiba's had brought up some interesting titbits. Kaiba's rage towards Yugi had been re-directed towards Joseph after finding out that the blonde had beaten Yugi in a friendly card game. Pegasus couldn't wait to see Kaiba's reaction to the duel, and he wondered if there was anyway he could help Joseph win on the big stage.   
After all, tormenting Kaiba was really all he had left in life Speaking of which... Pegasus's one good eye looked to the left to catch the coattails of Kaiba-boys white coat disappearing into the building. Pegasus immediately followed, knowing that the fun was about to begin.   
“Hello Kaiba-boy.”   
Kaiba cringed, recognizing the voice immediately. After all, who could forget the man who had captured his little brother and had dueled him into submission with cartoons.   
“What do you want Pegasus?” Kaiba snapped, looking over Pegasus critically. Pegasus smiled at his self-appointed protege, trying to ignore the slight headache that had appeared when he first addressed Kaiba.   
“Well Kaiba boy, it seems we are going to be watching the main event together. Perhaps we could 'grab' your little brother and rehash all the good times we have all been through?” Kaiba's eyes narrowed at Pegasus's choice of words.   
“You touch one hair on Mokuba's head and I will personally disconnect all of your. fingers!” “Oh Kaiba, don't you know that is all in the past. Are you going to bring up that unfortunate incident every time you and I get together? How sad.”   
“You kidnapped my brother trying to take over my company! That's not something that people just get over you maniac.”   
“Yes but didn't I also help you beat that Dartz fellow later on? And I believe I have attempted to make up for many of the awful things that you remember me doing.” With that Pegasus extended his hand to Kaiba before continuing.   
“How about we just start over? After all, we wouldn't be here if I hadn't taught you how to play in the first place, am I correct? As long as we both play the game we are going to see each other, so let's let bygones be bygones.” Kaiba just started at Pegasus open mouthed before turning and walking away. “  
See you at the tournament Kaiba” Pegasus called out, watching Kaiba's shoulder hunch up as he walked away.

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Ladies and Gentlemen the winner, and reigning Duel Monsters Champion is.. Yugi Moto!” the announcer rang out, the holograms of Yugi's Dark Magician and Joey's Flame swordsman disappearing from the field. 300 life points had separated the two, and Joey couldn't help grinning and giving his best friend a thumbs up. Yugi waved back, and Joey thought back on their duel, wondering about how enjoyable a game it was without the fate of the world depending on the outcome, or worrying about saving someone's soul from the Shadow Realm.   
Joey turned to the crowd, waving at the fans who were cheering at them. His face lit up as he spotted Mai in the crowd. She blew him a kiss, and Joey couldn't help but blush. Hopping off the duel platform, he made his way over to Yugi, hugging the shorter duelist and congratulating him on the win.   
Joey then backed off, allowing Yugi to take in the affection of the crowd. Slipping away, he made his way over to their group of friends while Yugi was presented with the Grand Prize- a 10,000 yen donation made to the building project in his name by Industrial Illusions. Pegasus presented him with a small plaque, which Yugi took cautiously. Pegasus winked at the small boy before motioning for a microphone.   
“I'd just like to congratulate Yugi for another fine performance. There is no one I'd rather give the title of King of Games to than this fine young duelist, and I look forward to the great things he will do in his life. Congrats on another win Yugi, and Joseph, thank you for putting up another entertaining game, you have certainly grown in your skills since the last time I've seen you. Now, I believe young Mokuba has a few words to say Thank you all for coming.” With that Pegasus bowed to the crowd, basking in the cheers that erupted throughout the stands. Mokuba walked up tho the Duel Monsters Creator, taking the microphone and thanking the crowd for their support and contributions.  
He then invited the head of the hospital board up, where he presented them with two 100 billion yen checks, one from Kaiba Corp, and one from Industrial Illusions.   
“Together with out fans and customers, the two biggest gaming companies in the world have raised over half our goal in under a month! My brother Seto and I would like to extend our heart felt thank you to everyone who donated or bought sponsored merchandise this past month. A big thank you too everyone who helped me put this event together, and a huge thank you to our star duelists- Joey Wheeler, Maximilian Pegasus, Mai Valentine, , Ryou Bakura, and of course the one and only Yugi Moto. Thank you guys so much, and please enjoy the rest of your day at Kaibaland! Don't forget fireworks tonight after dark! Thanks Again!” With that Mokuba shut off the microphone waving at the cheering crowd as he walked off the stage with Yugi and Pegasus.

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Being a child Billionaire had cost Kaiba manly things. His childhood, his innocence, and most importantly, his trust in other people. That's why he always had an escape plan put together in case someone tried anything at anytime. Now he walked through the tunnels, trailed by most of the geek squad. Joey, Mai, Tristan, Ryou, Tea, Malik and Duke were walking silently behind him.   
Kaiba was on a mission-find his baby brother and get the hell away from the mutt. Just being near him caused Kaiba's blood to boil. He couldn't help but feel smug that Yugi had defeated Joey earlier. It took all self control not to turn around and mock the boy who had gotten so far under his skin. Rounding the corner, he spotted his brother waiting with Yugi and his Grapndpa.   
Pegasus had left out the main entrance, preferring to spend time with his adoring fans. Kaiba smiled as his brother spotted him and ran over, giddy with excitement over the fundraiser doing so well.   
Mokuba hugged his brother before bouncing to Joey to offer him a huge thank you and hug. Joey ruffled the boy's hair, trying to ignore the look on Kaiba's face as his brother greeted the rest of the gang. “  
All right Mokuba, we need to get going. The cars are waiting for us at the South entrance so we can get to this dinner you insisted on throwing. Now come on.!” With that, Kaiba stalked to the head of the group, leading them through the twists and turns towards the exit. 

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Joey walked into the restaurant with Mai and grinned. As a thank you to all the duelist and sponsors, Kaiba corp. had rented out a local restaurant for a special dinner. Joey couldn't help but wonder how much money the brothers were putting out for this hotel to be built, and he couldn't help but admire Kaiba for his willingness to actually do a good thing. Squeezing Mai's hand, he escorted her to a long table, taking a seat at his designated chair.   
Mai sat to his right, Yugi to his left. Grandpa was on Yugi's other side, while Tea was next to Mai. Kaiba sat at the head of the table, and to everyone's surprise Pegasus sat at the other end, his trademark grin on his face while he casually sipped on his wine.   
Mokuba, Tristan, Ryou, Duke, and Malik finished the table. Joey couldn't help but silently wonder if putting Pegasus and Malik next to each other was a good idea. Sure, now that the items were gone, they were all civil, Malik had become part of the gang, while Pegasus was the weird uncle nobody wanted to be stuck alone with but still.... Joey pushed the thoughts away, determined to enjoy the evening. After all, Mai was leaving in two days, and Joey didn't want to ruin their last few days together.   
“So Joey, did you enjoy getting your butt kicked by Yugi again?” Duke asked, smiling innocently at the blonde. Joey sputtered, pretending to be offended.   
“I'll have you know I had Yugi on the rocks the whole time... I just went easy on him since their was nothing on the line this time. you know that joey wheeler is a great duelist---”  
the rest of his sentence was cut short by a snort, and all eyes fell on Kaiba, who make no moves to cover up the disgusted look on his face.   
“What's the matter Kaiba? You afraid I'm going to beat Yugi before you do?” Yugi grabbed Joey's shoulder, attempting to calm the other boy down. Kaiba stood up suddenly, ignoring Mokuba's pleas to just enjoy himself. “You” he said pointing at the blond, “outside now.” Joey stood up as Mai rolled her eyes.   
“You want me to go outside with you buddy?” Tristan asked, eyeing the CEO who stood there, glaring at Joey.   
“Nah, I'll be fine. What's he going to do with all these people around anyway?” Joey joked, turning towards Kaiba.   
“After you, oh impatient one.” Kaiba's eyes widened a little, but he quickly composed himself. Turning, he stalked away from the table, Joey trailing behind him grinning. Everyone at the table watched them go, the silence only broken by giggling at the end of the table. Pegasus composed himself by grabbing his wine glass, raising it and smiling at the remainder of the group.   
“I'd like to propose a toast to Kaiba-boy and young Joseph, may the always continue to be so entertaining.”   
“Cheers!” everyone yelled, clinking their glasses together. Pegasus glanced at this watch quickly, noting they still had some time before dinner was to be served.   
“Perhaps I could tell you some stories from my travels, hum?” Everyone at the table leaned forward, intent on hearing the duel monsters creator's every last word.

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“And another thing mutt. You are a worthless nobody. How Yugi is even friends with you just astounds me.” Kaiba sneered, learning in close to make sure his point came across. “You shouldn't even be standing in the same country as me, let alone the same restaurant. why don't you go back to the mill you came from so the rest of us can enjoy ourselves.”   
“What the hell is your problem Kaiba, all I've ever done is try to help you and your brother and you act like I'm beneath you!” Joey snarled, annoyed yet again at the brunet. Kaiba clenched his fists, and before Joey could react he threw a punch, landing it squarely on the blonde's jaw.   
Joey staggered back, then regained his footing and lunged at the taller boy, landing on top of him and swinging in a blind rage. A lucky move got Kaiba underneath him, and Joey rained down punches with all of his might. Suddenly, Kaiba's hands shot up, encircling Joey's neck and squeezing, forcing the blonde to claw at Kaiba to try to free his airway.   
Joey raised his hands in surrender, slowing getting off the other boy. Kaiba didn't let go of his grip on Joey's neck, and the lack of oxygen was making spots appear in front of Joey's eyes, and he started passing out.   
Suddenly, the hands were gone, and Joey collapsed on his back, attempting to fill his lungs with air as quickly as possible, glaring at Kaiba while he did. Kaiba straightened up and arranged his coat, not even paying attention to Joey's nasty looks.   
After making himself presentable, he looked Joey over, reaching out to adjust the shorter boys coat and dusting him off before allowing his hands to drop to his sides.   
Joey didn't speak, just eyed Kaiba warily as he calculated how long it would take him to get back into the restaurant. Kaiba stepped closer, and Joey raised his fist to defend himself, while Kaiba just smirked at him.   
Without a thought, Kaiba's hands reached for Joey's jacket again, pulling the blonde to him as Kaiba pressed his lips to Joey's in a brutal kiss.

 

Ishizu walking through her old home, preparing a meal for herself and Odion. The siblings had returned to Egypt to get ready for the excavation with Solomon, who would be joining them once Yugi's school was back in session.   
Absently stirring the pot, she silently worried about Malik, and if he was truly ready to be left alone. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden rumbling noise, and the walls of the underground home began to shake.   
Odion ran into the room, grabbing his sister and forcing her to the ground. He immediately covered her with his own body, holding her steady as the shaking continued. After a few minutes that felt like hours, the shaking stopped. Waiting a few minutes to make sure there were no other rumbles coming through, the two got up, both assessing the damage.   
A few dishes, including dinner, were on the ground, and Ishizu grimaced when she saw the small counter had fallen where she was standing before.   
“Thank you Odion, if you wouldn't have ran in when you did I might have gotten seriously hurt.” Odion nodded, awkwardly sitting on the floor not looking his sister in the eye. Ishizu looked at his arm, seeing that his shirt was already stained with drops of blood. Grabbing Odion's shirt, she pulled it away from the wound, thanking the gods that he had just been grazed by something.   
“Stay here Odion, I will get the first aid kit and check to make sure there has been no major damage anywhere.” Odion nodded, shakily getting up off the floor. Ishizu noticed he couldn't put much weight on his right leg, and she made a mental note to grab a bandage also.   
She walked to the bathroom, grabbing the supplies she would need to fix Odion. Turning off the lights, she started to make her way towards the kitchen when she stopped short. Turning towards Malik's old room, she peered in cautiously, only to rush back out again.   
Running into the kitchen, Odion jumped up when she dropped to the floor, shocked and unsure of what to say.   
“Ishizu! What is wrong sister?” Ishizu trembled, looking up at Odion's face before whispering “They're back... Yami, Bakura, and Marik are back.”

End Part One

A/N: This chapter took a lot longer than I thought... I was going to split it but there wasn't a good part to do so in... thanks for hanging in there through all this... Don't be surprised if the next chapter takes a little bit but please enjoy this while you wait!


	7. Aftermath of a Quake

A/N: This begins the second part of our story, what everything has been building too. So much for leaving regular lives. Please enjoy, and feel free to leave any constructive criticism at the bottom!

 

Yami's eyes slowly opened, darting back and forth around the room, attempting to sit up. “Please my Pharaoh, rest yourself. You've been through a long journey back to our world. You shouldn't be moving around so much.”   
“Ishizu? How did I get here?” How long have I been gone? Where is Yugi? Is he alright? Are my friends-” Ishizu held up a hand, silencing the former Monarch.   
“Please Yami, I do not yet know why you have returned- only that Bakura and Marik are here also. Odion is attempting to watch Bakura, and Marik is tied to that bed over there.” Ishizu pointed, eyeing her brother's double warily.   
“I am attempting to contact your friends, but right before you three showed up there was an earthquake, and it has knocked down the phone lines. We will need to go into town to the museum and use the computers there, but I don't want to leave Odion to deal with the other two.”   
“Pretty sneaky sis, you never know what could happen to that weak minded older brother of yours mind.” Marik's voice cut in, attempting to sit up in his bed. Frowning at the ropes tied around his wrists, he turned towards Yami and Ishizu.   
“So, who do I have to thank for my trip out of the Shadow Realm? I know Yami is suppose to be in the afterlife, that he finally got back his memories. Bakura was with me in the Shadow Realm, we were plotting our escape when there was sudden bright light then I woke up here, tied to this bed.” Ishizu and Yami exchanged a look, not sure what to do with the man in front of them.

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“Now Yugi-boy, I'm sure you know much of your grandfathers adventures, and the situations one can get themselves into.” Pegasus stated, smiling at Solomon.   
“Perhaps while we eat dinner you would care to share one of your own stories? Perhaps the one about discovering your first tomb? I'm sure it was fascinating.” Grandpa looked thoughtfully at the silver-haired man taking a moment to gather his thoughts.   
“Well it was about 10 years before I found the Millennium puzzle, I was on a trip with Professor Hopkins. We were looking for the tomb of another Pharaoh, one who lived even before Yami.”   
Grandpa stopped talking as the table began to shake. Suddenly, the whole room was moving, and people were ducking under tables hoping to avoid being hit by the food and dishes that were falling all over the place. The shaking stopped, and people started to crawl back out, checking themselves and others for injuries.   
“Joey! I hope he's OK. He's still outside with Kaiba!” Mai thought, looking towards the front door. She got up quickly, picking through the trash as she made her way towards Joey. Reaching the door, she hoped it would open and turned the handle. She managed to get the door cracked open enough to get out. Looking around, she didn't see either of the boys. “Where are they?” She muttered, cautiously walked around the side of the restaurant. A groaning noise caught her attention, and Mai looked towards the noise to see a flash of white, which she knew was Kaiba's trench coat buried under a piece of siding.   
Rushing over, she yelled out Kaiba's name, only to hear him groaning. She picked up the siding piece which luckily wasn't too heavy, and was surprised to see Kaiba unconscious, the moaning noises coming from Joey who was underneath the taller man. Mai's eyes widened as she realized that Kaiba had shielded Joey during the quake, and she shook her head.   
“I will never figure out what is wrong with that man. One minute he's trying to kill Joey, the next he is helping to save Joey.” Kneeling down next to the two boys, she began talking to Joey, looking at his face while his eyes slowly started to open. He looked up at Mai, blinking at her several times while he tried to place her face in his mine.   
“Stop doing that Joseph you look like a fish out of water.” Mai told him, smiling at the blonde. Joey attempted to sit up, frowning as he realized there was something on top of him. Brunet hair fell on his face, and Joey froze as he realized it was Kaiba.   
“Um, Mai? Can you help me get rich boy off me?”   
“Hold on a second Joey, Don't move. Kaiba isn't awake yet. He could have a concussion or some other problem. I'm going to see if someone inside can help you guys. I'm sure he's got some doctor on speed dial.” With that Mai turned on her hell and dashed back into the restaurant.   
Luckily, one of the first people she saw inside was Kaiba's bodyguard Roland, and she was able to point him in the direction of his boss. Roland calmly pulled out a phone, pushed a button, and spoke briefly into it, nodding at Mai as he walked out the door. Mai watched him go, and turned towards the rest of the group, knowing that Mokuba would want to be outside with his big brother. 

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Kaiba groaned, opening his eyes slowly as his body began to register its aches and pains. Non-stop beeping made his head ache, and he managed to look over to see a hear-rate monitor.   
“How long have I been out?” He wondered, trying to sit up. His right hand found the bed remote and he raised himself up, looking around to see Mokuba sleeping on a fold out cot. Tea and Ryou were sitting in chairs right next to him. Ryou's eyes were open, and he smiled shyly at Kaiba.   
“We didn't want to leave Mokuba alone, the doctors had to give him something to keep him calm while they worked on you. Tea and I have been sleeping in shifts. Joey's in the room next to yours with Yugi's Grandpa. They brought all three of you to Domino Hospital in one of the choppers.” Ryou informed him squeezed Tea's hand to try to wake her. Tea stirred, slowly opening her eyes.   
“Kaiba! You're awake.” She said, yawning and stretching in her uncomfortable chair. “What time is it?” Kaiba snapped, annoyed that he had spent so much time in the hospital over nothing.   
“It's a little after 1pm Kaiba. Roland is at Kaiba Corp overseeing the repairs after the earthquake. He wanted you to call when you wake up, but the doctors had you on some pretty strong pain-killers. You have a bruised rib, some deep scratches on your stomach, and 36 stitches on your leg where the siding hit you.” Kaiba blinked, pulling back the bedsheets to see his body wrapped in tape.   
“Great. How am I suppose to get back to work when I can't even sit up?” Kaiba thought to himself. Ryou stood up, handing Kaiba a cell phone.   
“Your phone screen broke when you fell on top of Joey, so Roland gave you a back-up. He's going to get your fixed today and bring it back.” Kaiba accepted the phone, quickly punching in Roland's number. After a few minutes of arguing back and forth, Kaiba hung up the phone, fiddling with the small object. Ryou and Tea had left, mouthing to Kaiba that they were going to get something to eat. Ryou left his number, along with an offer to grab something for the elder Kaiba if he wanted. Kaiba ignored the note, only wanting to see his brother woke up so they could leave.   
A nurse appeared, obviously been told that her patient was awake.   
“Mr. Kaiba, good to see you. Everyone been worried about you.” She said, stealthy walking over to the brunets bed. Picking up the sheets, she inspected the bandages, ignoring Kaiba's death glare.   
“When can I go home?” Kaiba snapped. “I have a company to run. I don't have time for this.”   
“Mr Kaiba, you suffered several serious injuries, and there is still risk of internal bleeding and infection. I suggest you try to stay calm your company will be fine.”   
“What do you know about anything. You can't keep me here!”   
“Your right about that, but your brother won't be awake for a few hours os why don't you just sit tight for now. Your friends will be back in a few minutes, and I believe someone has left you a lap top. I'll have someone bring you food, and after that your doctor will be in.” With that, she pulled a laptop case out from behind chair and handed it to the CEO.   
“The cord is right here, and I wrote down the wi-fi password for you. Now, if you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask. My name is Andrea, and I'm on shift till 6.” With that Andrea left the room, noting something on the chalkboard outside Kaiba's door. Kaiba watched her leave, waiting for his laptop to boot. Now that he was alone, his thoughts went back to last night.   
Fighting with Joey had been so freeing, it was the one time he wasn't the CEO of a corporation, he was just a teenager acting out. Ever since Joey had told him that he had beaten Yugi in a game, Kaiba had looked for a way to shut him up. To prove once and for all that he was the best, and that Joey could in no way do what he had claimed. These thoughts had kept him up at night, cutting into his already short sleep time. Without realizing it, his obsession with Yugi's other self had faded, and a new one had begun with Joey.   
He knew he could beat the blonde in a duel, that was a non-issue, but how could he ever reconcile the mutt winning against the Pharaoh himself? What could he possibly do now that there was no way that he could beat the Pharaoh?

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Yugi paced back and forth, hating how small the room containing his Grandpa and best friend was. Joey had suffered some head trauma, and had been diagnosed with a concussion. Grandpa had passed out in the middle of the earthquake, and had stopped breathing several times during the rush to get everyone to the hospital.   
The doctors had run all kings of tests and had found nothing, telling Yugi it was probably from all the excitement. There were both going to be released later on, the hospital to full treating earthquake victims to worry about two seemingly mild cases.   
The doctor had informed Yugi that both of them needed rest, and Yugi told the doctor he would take care of them. Mai had offered to help, pushing back her leaving day a week to lend a hand to her friends while they were in need. Yugi was grateful, he was going to need some help with repairs around the shop.   
“So much for the extra money we got this month, its going to have to go towards fixing the roof” He thought, silently writing a checklist of what needed to be done. The door opened, and Yugi turned only to be surprised to see Pegasus standing in the doorway theatrically posed to gain attention to his entrance.   
“Hello Yugi-boy how is everyone? I heard that Kaiba-boy is awake and itching to get out of here. I'm sure you are as well.” Yugi nodded, looking over at the empty beds in the room. “They took Grandpa and Joey for a couple more tests, then they are going to be released. Mai went to her hotel to check out and grab her stuff, and Ryou and Tea have been sitting with Kaiba and Mokuba. Everyone else went home to assess the damage.” Pegasus, frowned, noting the pained look on the younger boys face.   
“Well Yugi, that is actually why I am here.” He state, easing himself into one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. “I've already covered your hospital bills for you. I also called my men and they are on stand by to come and fix the Game Shop for you, whatever damage it may have sustained.”   
Yugi stared open mouthed at Pegasus, not sure what was going on. The older man sighed, knowing he was not going to get off easy. “Yugi, I did some horrible things to you and your friends. My grief over the loss of my wife drove me to madness and while I would like to say that I did everything so I could het her back, I really did it so I could gain power. That Eye I received corrupted me, and from what I've heard about your adventures to the Memory World, it is no surprise. Yugi nodded, remembering that the Eyes original owner had indeed been corrupted and tried to destroy the Pharaoh.   
“I want to make amends to you and your Grandpa Yugi, and I can start by paying you back for the damage I have caused you and your friends. So please, take this apology for what it is and allow me to help you.” Pegasus lowered his head slightly, his silver hair shifting enough that Yugi saw the empty eye socket. Where the Millennium Eye had been.   
“We've all been through so much because of those items perhaps I could really forgive Pegasus. After all he has certainly been through so much, and grief causes people to do strange things.” Yugi thought, standing up and shaking Pegasus hand.   
“Pegasus, if my grandpa agrees to your help I would be happy to accept it.”   
“Wonderful. I'll get out of you hair then. Please call me when you are ready to discuss terms. Pegasus produced a business card, and handed it to Yugi with a flourish. Standing, he owed to the younger boy and walked out of the room, leaving Yugi to ponder his proposal.   
Yugi's thoughts were interrupted by Joey's voice, yammering to the nurses about Duel Monsters as they brought him back to the room. He perked up at seeing Yugi, smiling at the smaller boy.   
“I've gotten the all clear to get out of here Yug! As soon as Gramps is ready let's blow this Popsicle stand.” Yugi rolled his eyes at Joey, causing the blond to grin.   
“Mai's coming back with Grandpa's car after she drops your guys clothes off at the Game Shop. We thought it wouldn't be a good idea to cram you and Grandpa into her convertible.” Joey grinning, giving Yugi a thumbs off while he sat back down on the bed to wait impatiently.

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Ishizu pondered her options as she watched the 3 spirits. Yami had suggested they all move into a common room and they had- After making sure Marik and Bakura were securely tied up of course. Ishizu didn't want to risk them escaping if it could be helped. She still didn't know what to do-No one knew where their home was, so no one was going to be checking on them to see if they were alright.   
She could go to the museum but that would leave Odion to deal with the three spirits, who were shooting glances at each other every few seconds when they thought she wasn't looking. Ishizu frowned, looking to Odion for guidance. Her brother shook his head, unsure of what to say.   
“I hate to interrupt this little party, but we need to get back to Domino. There's some unfinished business that needs to be attended too.” Bakura stated, pushing his way of the couch awkwardly.   
“You won't be going anyway until we decide what to do with you.” Odion replied, standing in front of the while haired spirit and glaring down at him. Bakura laughed, maniacally, tossing his hair as he looked at Marik.   
“I've forgotten how much spunk your brother has Marik. Perhaps he needs to be reminded who he is dealing with?” Quick as lighting, Bakura grabbed Odion and flipped him on the couch, surprising the older man who realized belatedly that Bakura had cut through the ropes. Bakura spun around, pulling out a knife to attack Odion with.   
“That's enough!” Yami snapped, grabbing Bakura's shoulder and pulling the tomb robber back from his target. Bakura pouted pulling back from Odion and glaring at Yami.   
“I was just trying to have a bit of fun Yami. Why do you have to ruin everything for me!” Yami Ignored him, turning towards Ishizu.   
“Bakura is right, we need to get back to Domino as quickly as possible. Our friends are in danger and we can't waste time worrying about other things. Please, trust me that Bakura and Marik aren't going to pull anything. In order to come back we had to give up our powers, and we can't get them back. There is no time we have to go!” Ishizu help up a hand, slowing down Yami's train of thought.   
“My Pharaoh, you have to understand that there was an earthquake when you appear and it's caused some damage to our communication abilities. I will have to leave in order to do this, but I need assurances that things will be under control while I do that.” Yami glanced at the other two spirits before nodding. Ishizu got up, putting her worry aside as she left her home, praying to the Gods that this was the right move.

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Kaiba typed furiously on his computer, attempting to black mail someone into picking him up. “Hello Kaiba-boy” A voice penetrated into his thoughts and Kaibas head shot up to see Pegaus standing in his doorway.   
“Pegasus!” He snarled, looking around for something to protect him and Mokuba with Pegasus sat down in a chair holing up his hands in mock surrender.   
“Yugi knows this wasn't my fault Kaiba-boy. You shouldn't receive guests like this.” Pegasus winced, feeling a sudden headache coming on. Leaning forward, he grabbed his head trying to ignore Kaiba's eyes on him. Pegasus took a few breaths, trying to relieve the pounding hin hi skull.   
“Why are you here Pegasus. If you're trying to take advantage of my injuries you're to late- Roland is watching over Kaiba Corp and I am back online to ensure no one tries anything.” “Oh Kaiba, aren't you tired of this song and dance we do? Can't we be friends already?” Pegasus smiled, spreading his arms wide as he grinned at the other CEO.   
His headache had gone away as quickly as it had came, which would have worried Pegasus if he hadn't been so use to it already. Just then, Yugi burst into the room, pulling someone in with him.   
“Shadi!” Pegasus exclaimed.   
“I thought you were gone-how did you find us!” The Egyptian looked at the rooms occupants before announcing.   
“The Pharaoh, the Tomb Robber, and the Tomb Keeper have returned.” Kaiba stared at the strange man who had appeared behind Yugi. His blood turned cold at the mention of the Pharaoh.   
“Yami's Back? But How?” He thought to himself.   
“What do you mean they're back Shadi? You told us that after we fought in the last duel and I beat him that he would be gone- That we would have to learn to live without each other. Now you're telling me he's back! Why?” Yugi yelled, clenching his fists in anger at his sides. “I just got use to not having Yami here. Now he's back and I'm going to see him then lose him all over again.” He continued , trying to fight back the tears forming.   
“You need to get to Egypt as soon as possible Yugi, along with the other former item holders. Time is of the essence. Once you get there proceed to the Ishtars old home. I must be going, the magic I used to come here is fading fast. Hurry!” Shadi state, turning and disappearing into a strange vortex in the floor.   
Pegasus arched an eyebrow as the man left, wondering at how some people never changed. Speaking of which.... Pegasus eye moved to the right towards Kaiba's bed. The Young CEO's face was in the same country. Pegasus pondered the current situation, trying to figure out the best way to proceed.   
“Yugi-boy, if you give me 2 hours I can have my private jet ready to go. Father your friends and meet me at the Domino Airport. Yugi nodded, turning and leaving Kaiba's room, his head reeling from the latest twists in his young life.   
“I'm coming Yami, and this time, maybe you'll stay with me.”


	8. The first puzzle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yami, Bakura, and Marik attempt to figure out a mystery, while Yugi, Ryou, and Malik travel on Pegasus's plane to be reunited with the spirits

Ishizu sat at her desk, trying to figure out who to contact first. Her fingers rested on the phone while she contemplated her options.   
“If only I had my necklace, I would know exactly what was going on. They weren't suppose to come back, the After life doesn't have an Open Door policy that souls can go back and forth freely from it. I don't understand what is going on at all.” “Hello Ishizu. I take it you have heard from our Pharaoh?”   
A voice interrupted her musings, and Ishizu turned to see Shadi standing behind her chair. “Shadi! What are you doing here? What's going on?”

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Ishizu hurried home, ignored the stares of people who were out and about trying to clean up after the earthquake. Her talk with Shadi while brief, had made her even more nervous. He had simply told her to return home and await the arrival of Yugi and the others, but there was an intensity in the way that he spoke that chilled Ishizu to her core. A quick glance at her watch made her realize that it had been almost a day since the spirits had appeared, and it would probably be another 12 hours before their guests arrived.   
Finally returning home, she walked into the living room to see Odion had made dinner, and was currently allowing Bakura to eat while Marik stayed tied up. Yami was finishing up his own meal, stopping every so often to feed Marik tib bits so the other man wouldn't start complaining he was hungry.   
“You made it back safely. Did you get in touch with anyone from back home?”   
“I did not get the chance to my Pharaoh. Shadi stopped me. He has already visited with Yugi and the others and informed them of our situation, and they are currently on their way here. Apparently Pegasus was around, and he is giving them a ride on his private jet.” Yami frowned at the billionaires name, and opened his mouth to speak again when Odion interjected.   
“Sister, we my have more of a problem than we thought. I found this on Bakura.” Odion help up a scroll handing it to his younger sister. Ishizu stared at it, trying to decipher the Anceint Egyptian on it.   
“My Pharaoh, are you able to tell me what this says?” Yami shook his head, not wanting to waste his friends time.   
“It appears to be some kinds of building instructions, but it is written in some sort of shorthand that I do not understand either.”   
“Me neither.” Bakura added, trying to read the scroll from his spot on the floor.   
“However, I can read some of it, so maybe that will help?” Ishizu placed the scroll before Bakura, who grinned maniacally at her.   
“Why thank you my dear. Now please, can I have a cup of tea while I read this? Perhaps some biscuits as well?” A cat-eating the canary grin crossed his face, and Ishizu reluctantly got up and entered the kitchen, motioning for Odion to join her. Putting on a pot of water to boil, Ishizu sighed and stared at the wall in front of her.   
“Why don't you sit down sister, you haven't taken a break since this morning and I'm worried about you.”   
“Thank you Odion, I'm just concerned about Malik. What happens when he gets here? He banished Marik to the Shadow Realm during that duel with Yugi and the Pharaoh, how can he be back? Is he going to try to get revenge on our brother?” Odion placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, unable to come up with an answer. 

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Did you figure it out yet Bakura?” Marik slid next to the thief, frowning at the symbols on the paper. Yami took the other side, pointing at a symbol that he recognized. The tea Ishizu had brought out had chilled, and the three spirits were still hard at work trying to figure out what the scroll could possibly be about. Yami had attempted to talk to Ishizu and Odion, trying to convince them that Marik was not here to kill their brother. The two Ishtars were reluctant to believe the Monarch, and Yami had finally gotten them to go lay down, promising to keep an eye on the other two.   
Marik had watched the exchange with his arms crossed, annoyed at the pointless back and forth that was going on when there were so many more important questions that should be asked. Yami placed a hand on the blondes shoulder, pushing him back towards Bakura and the scroll where they were all currently sitting. Yami puzzled over a small portion of it, finally pointing to a symbol on the paper.   
“I think that's North, and I believe that's Star. These must be coordinates for building a Pyramid. That would have been the only thing that would have been wrote down with such precise instructions.”   
“I agree. This looks like the symbol for Pharaoh, and that's Pyramid over there, do you think this are the instructions for your Pyramid Yami?” Bakura asked, turning towards the crazy-haired duelist. Yami shook his head.   
“I didn't have time to send out instructions on how I wanted one built. Plus, I wasn't Pharaoh long enough to have one built for me, and my body disappeared after I sealed myself into the Millennium Puzzle remember?” Bakura looked over the scroll again, attempting to distinguish more of the symbols on it.   
“The problem with this is it seems to be a mixture of different dialects of the time. These aren't all Egyptian symbols and words, so whoever wrote this must have been in the slave trade or something similar. I'm not really sure how we are going to decipher this.” Marik stood up, stretching his various limbs that had started to cramp on the floor.   
“Maybe we need to take a short break, and come back to it later on?” He suggested, throwing a wink at Bakura while Yami frowned at the two thieves. Marik ignored him, sitting down on Bakura's lap and nuzzling the white haired boy. Bakura grinned, wrapping his arms around Marik while watching Yami out of the corner of his eye. Yami sighed, sitting up and crawling over to the two other boys.   
“Alright then, but this is the last time you guys, I have to make up with Yugi soon.” Marik and Bakura grinned at each other as Yami leaned over to give them both kisses. 

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Pegasus sat on his plane observing the group surrounding him. Yugi sat by the window, staring blankly outside, obviously lost in though. Pegasus didn't need his Millennium eye to know what the young boy was thinking about, and he couldn't help but wonder if this whole experience was going to drive Yugi-boy over the edge.   
Joey was sitting next to the other duelists, fidgeting in his seat as he tried to get comfortable despite his injuries. The blonde was here against the doctors orders, but when both Tea and Tristan's parents had refused to let them run off again, Joey had refused to let Yugi go alone. His logic was that someone needed to protect Yugi, after all, Pegasus and Malik were both on the plane, and while they had buried the so called hatchet, Joey knew he would feel better watching out for his little buddy. Plus, there was no one that could keep Joey Wheeler in a bed for days at a time and out of the action.   
Ryou sat next to Joey, fiddling with strands of his long white hair as he stared off into the distance, and Joey noticed that every once in awhile the pale boy shivered. Last was Malik, who was currently tied to his seat because he kept trying to get off of the place. After all, his other half had been banished because of him and he was nervous about what was going to happen when he saw Marik again. Pegasus sighed, a migraine starting to form in his head when Joeys voice broke the silence.   
“So, who is up for a card game?”

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“My Pharaoh, have you had any luck figuring out what this scroll says?” Ishizu asked, walking into the living room with Odion trailing behind her. Luckily the spirits had finished their stress-relieving activities, and were all sitting around the scroll again.   
“We know its instructions on building a Pyramid, we are just not sure which one. We know it has something to do with the North Star, but that's it.” Odion handed another mug of tea to Bakura, pausing as his eyes settled on a symbol.   
“Here, this symbol, this is on the doorway of one of the Pyramids. It's Akhet, I remember seeing it when I was a part of the Rare Hunters. It means Glorious Light its the name of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.” Yami frowned at Odion before looking at Bakura.   
“I remember visiting that Pyramid as a child. It shone so brightly during the day that it was impossible to look at. My father brought me there to pay respects of our ancestors, and to thank them for a bountiful harvest we had the year before. It doesn't make sense thought, why would the instructions for building the Pyramid be on you Bakura. They would have been hidden in the archives to make sure nobody would be able to raid the tomb, and if you can't even read them what would have been the purpose of you stealing them?” Ishizu sighed, realizing that with even figuring out this one puzzle the mystery was only going to get deeper and deeper. 

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“Finally! We have spent entirely to much time on planes lately! I need to burn off some energy!” Joey exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. After a 10-hour plane ride he was more than ready to take a run for a few hours.   
After his duel suggestion they had split up into teams and held a mini-tournament with Pegasus and Yugi dueling the final game. Of course Yugi won, but Pegasus had been enjoying himself way to much to worry about playing at the top of his game, and had given the boy a rather easy victory.   
Once the duel was done, everyone attempted to sleep for a few hours, but the nervous energy in the air prevented any of them from doing anything other than drift off for a few minutes at a time. Yugi didn't even bother to try to sleep, choosing instead to stare out the window at the clouds that the plane was passing through.   
He ended up being the last off the plane, his feet dragging as he began to dread what was coming. Joey eyed his friend, walking over to wrap an arm around the shorter duelist in an attempt to comfort him. Turning towards Malik, Joey acknowledged the slightly panicked looking Egyptian.   
“So where do we go now Mr. Tour Guide? Lead the way!” Malik frowned, looking around the small airport.   
“I guess we need to find a ride somewhere. I was hoping my sister would be here-it is another hour to our home from this airport, and I don't know anyone around here. We need to find a phone and go from there.” With that Pegasus's bodyguard stepped forward, pulling out a phone and speaking quickly into it. Pegasus smiled at the teens.   
“There are some perks to being friends with rich people especially those who have given millions to the Egyptian government so they could research Duel Monsters. There will be a limo here in less than 5 minutes, all they will need is for you to tell them where to go young Malik.”   
Pegasus nodded his head in the direction of the Egyptian who was shuffling his feet at the sudden attention from the one-eyed man. Joey patted Yugi on the shoulder before pulling away, grabbing Ryou's arm and pushing him towards the only doorway he saw.   
“Well if the limo's on its way I guess we all need to get going!!!” With that, Pegasus's bodyguards gathered the luggage and began to lead the small group out of the airport.

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Tea and Mai stood outside the Kaiba Mansion, unsure of what to do. Kaiba had left the hospital in a huff, stating that he didn't need any help or anyone checking up on him or bothering him while he recovered from his injuries.   
However, Roland had tracked Tea down and asked her to come retrieve a few things for Kaiba and deliver them to the Mansion. He was currently trying to put out several fires at Kaiba Corp, and Tea was more than happy to help out-mostly so she could give Kaiba a talk about allowing his friends to help him.   
She had called Tristan to help her, but he was stuck babysitting his crazy nephew yet again. Her next call was to the Game Shop, where Mai had been more than willing to to pick the brunette up so Grandpa could nap in peace. Leaving her cell phone number by the night stand in cause the older man needed help, Mai had come straight to Tea's and drove her to Kaiba Corp, which had turned into a wild goose chase for several items the Kaiba supposedly needed desperately.   
Finally, they made it to the Mansion, which left them with the question on how they were going to get it. Tea crossed her fingers and pulled out her phone, hoping that Mokuba would answer her call.   
A quick conversation got the gate open, and the two girls couldn't help but gawk at the hugeness of the Kaiba boys home. Mai giggled, wondering if the rumor was true Kaiba had a place like this cause he was compensating for something.   
She sobered up as they approached the front door, and both girls were speechless as they entered the front hallway. Hand polished hardwood floors and tastefully decorated walls graced a hallway with at least 20 doors, and Mai wondered where all of them could possibly lead too. Her own family was rich, but this house made them barely look like they were middle class.   
Tea was glancing around nervously, obviously not sure which doorway they should be going through. Suddenly, a maid appeared, bowing in the girls general direction before indicating that they should follow her through another door.   
After leading them through a huge dining room and kitchen, they finally found Mokuba hanging out in a game room, his brother lounging on a couch beside him, fingers tapping furiously on a keyboard. Tea smiled at the younger boy, before approaching the annoyed looking CEO.   
“I brought your new phone Kaiba, and so other things that I was told you needed. How are you feeling?” Kaiba snorted, not even bothering to look up from his laptop. Mokuba frowned at his brother before smiling at the two girls.   
“Ignore him, he's being a jerk because he's in a lot of pain. I can't get him to take his pills. The doctors want him to relax for a few days and he refuses.”   
“I don't need rest Mokuba, you don't need to worry about me.” Mokuba rolled his eyes at Kaiba before offering the two girls a seat. Tea gave Kaiba the bag she was holding before sitting down next to Mai, the blonde already settled on the couch next to Mokuba.   
Kaiba pulled his new phone out of the bag, checking to make sure that his sim card was in it before he turned the phone on.   
Quickly setting up his email and work contacts, he began to reply to his massive email lists. The other three began talking, but Kaiba only half paid attention until they started to talk about the group that had left for Egypt to retrieve the spirits. Slowing his tapping only a smidge, he tried to listen as Mai talked about her worries about Joey and Yugi being on the plane with Pegasus, and Mokuba trying to speculate why the Pharaoh was back to begin with.   
After all, wasn't that the whole point of that duel he had with Yugi? Kaiba snorted at that comment, causing his brother to glance over at him, noting that Kaiba was only pretending to work before he turned his attention back to their guests.   
Finally, Mai stood up, indicating that she needed to get home to check on Yugi's Grandpa before inviting Mokuba to come over if he got too lonely.   
“I'll make sure to keep you informed when they come home- If they show.” Mai promised, hugging the younger boy who was almost a brother to all of them before awkwardly waving at Kaiba. Tea followed suit, Mokuba following them up to make sure they made it out ok. Several minutes later he reappeared, squatting down next to his big brother with a serious look on his face.   
“What's going on with you Seto? I didn't think you cared so much about the spirits returning. I thought you didn't even believe that they really existed.” Kaiba stared at his brother, looking thoughtful.   
“I'm not concerning myself with all of this magic hocus pocus Mokuba. My concerns are much more... personal than that.” Mokuba leaned in close until he was nose-to-nose with his brother.   
“So, what is the issue then?” Kaiba closed his eyes and winced before announcing   
“I kissed the mutt right before the earthquake.” Dead silence greeted him, and he opened his eyes to see Mokuba blinking crazily at him, mouth opening and shutting wordlessly before bursting out laughing.   
“Big Brother, I didn't know you liked Joey like that! How does he kiss?” He managed to ask in between attempting to take control of his breathing. Kaiba frowned at his brother, not amused at whatever it was that he saw so funny.   
“Mokuba! That's enough!” “Sorry Seto, I just can't believe that after all the ranting you do about Joey that you would do something like this. I'm surprised he didn't punch you in the face.”   
“Very funny Mokuba.” Kaiba grumbled, staring back at his laptop as Mokuba continued to laugh.

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Mai entered the Game Shop after dropping Tea off, taking care not to make too much noise. She figured Grandpa was still sleeping, and she didn't want to wake him up. After checking on the older man, she walked in the shop, documenting the damage that had been done during the quake.   
Yugi had told her that Pegasus had offered to help fix whatever they couldn't afford to, which Mai knew was most of it. Pulling out her phone, she took pictures of cracks in the wall, pulling out a ruler to measure how bad they were.   
She then began to clean up, sweeping up the dust and broken glass that littered the shop floor, trying to keep her mind occupied.  
A sudden knock interrupted her, and she looked up to see Duke waving at her from the front door. Hurrying over, she unlocked the door, allowing the Dice Master to enter the shop. Duke smiled at her, fiddling with a lock of his hair while shifting his weight back and forth.   
“Sorry to interrupt you Mai, I just wanted to see how you were doing. Have you heard from them yet?” Mai shook her head, glancing at her watch to see what time it was.   
“I'm not expecting to hear from them for another 7 hours or so, Pegasus promised to call when they were safely landed and its a long flight, even with his fancy plane.” Duke smiled, reaching behind his back to produce a package.   
“This showed up at my place for you today. I'm not really sure whey it came to me, but I wanted to deliver it personally. It's marked important.” Mai accepted the small box, looking it over for a return address.   
“Well, I guess I should open it?” She wondered, looking over at Duke wondering what it could possibly be. When the male just shrugged, she started opening it, only to find a picture envelop inside. She peeked inside to pull out the pictures as she racked her brain trying to figure out who could have sent her anything. Who would have thought to look for her here? The first was a picture of a pyramid, which Mai couldn't name.   
The next, a green hook with some numbers on it, sitting in a pile of dirt. Someone had circled the hook with a red marker, the words: Find ME! Written on it. Duke was peering over her shoulder, trying figure out the pictures himself.   
The third was blank, obviously a throw away. Mai flipped to the last one, only to freeze as a picture of Joey caught in an embrace with none other than the man who had just saved his life, Seto Kaiba.   
Mai heard Duke gasp behind her as the picture fluttered to the ground, landing face up as if to mock the blonde as she shook violently.


	9. Chapter 9

Duke blinked at the photo, trying to process the image in his brain. Mai was still next to him, breathing heavy as she held the photo with shaking hands. Suddenly, it was falling, and Mai was no where to be found. Duke picked the pictures up, pausing as he looked once again at the strange picture of Joey and Kaiba.   
“Wonder what the story is behind this one?” He muttered to himself as he started to search for the disappearing blonde. Pulling out his phone, he quickly texted Tristan to grab Tea and get over to the house, forgetting that Tristan was stuck at home with his demon nephew.   
With that, he walked into Yugi's house, calling out softly to Mai, not wanting to disturb Yugi's Grandfather. Soft banging noises alerted him to the kitchen, and Duke entered to find Mai attempting to start dinner while not breaking anything.   
Flashing his award-winning smile at her, he gently pushed the blonde onto a stool. He then began massaging her shoulders, trying to get the older woman to relax a little. Mai let her head fall into her hands, and after a minute she started to laugh. Duke eyed her a little, wondering what was going through her mind. Mai stood up, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she stretched.   
“Can you imagine the look on Joseph's face after they kissed? Poor boy probably was having a heart attack!” Duke snickered, looking again at the picture and Joey's slightly scared face. His gaze went over the other two pictures, wondering who could have sent them. Mai walked back over, looking at them herself.   
“We are going to have to save the world again aren't we?” She mused, brushing her blonde hair off her face. Duke groaned, flopping down into a dining room chair.   
“Just when I thought things were going to get back to normal around here. Why can't we all live a normal life?”   
“Well, considered the fact that three spirits just showed up out of the blue, did you expect something else?”  
Grandpa choose this moment to enter the kitchen, popping up behind Duke.   
“What are you kids yammering on about? Can't an injured old man get some rest around here without some sort of issues.” Duke jumped up at the sudden voice, falling off the chair in the process. Mai smiled at the old man, placing two of the pictures under his nose.   
“I received these pictures in the mail, do you have any idea what they could be?” Grandpa studied the pictures, nodding to himself as he studied them.   
“Without context I can't be certain, it could be Khufu, or maybe Khafre. I think its too big to be Menkaure.... However this hook... I remember seeing it in some old photos. It was found on an expedition into one of the Giza Pyramids. I'm not really sure where it ended up after it was found, or if it disappeared like so many other artifacts of the time.”   
Mai frowned, not sure what to do next. Duke grabbed his phone, hoping a quick google search would help them figure out where that hook was from.   
“Grandpa, can you spell those pyramids for me?” 

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Ryou stared out the window, watching the scenery as they drove past. He idly twirled a band on his left wrist that Tea had gave him before they left. He smiled softly as he thought about the brunette. Sure, Tea was annoying, and her constant harping on friendship got on people's nerves, but she was also very perceptive when it came to other's feelings.   
The band was suppose to help ground Ryou when he re-met his former darker half, and he hoped that it would help. After all, Ryou had betrayed Bakura several times, and the only thing that had kept Bakura from killing him was the fact that they shared a body. As it was, Bakura had banished Ryou several times to the Shadow Realm, and had forced the younger boy into helping him get to Egypt for the final battle.   
Ryou couldn't help but wonder why his other couldn't have been more like Yugi's, but that was in the past. He twirled the band again, biting his lip as he counted the minutes til they stopped.   
Malik sat in the front of the limo, every once in awhile giving directions to the driver as they got closer to his home. Finally, they approached a familiar building, and he told the driver to stop, indicating an alley for him to pull over in.   
Turning around, he looked at Pegasus before announcing   
“We are here. It's still a little bit of a walk from here, but we can't drive there. I think I should go first, to make sure that everything is ok, then I will come get the rest of you guys.”  
Pegasus nodded, pointing back down the alleyway.   
“I will take Yugi, Ryou and Joey to the market we passed a moment ago and browse a little bit while we wait. We will wait for you there.” Yugi nodded silently, frowning that he wasn't going to be seeing Yami as quickly as he wanted too. Malik took off into the opposite direction of his home, taking several quick turns to see if anyone was following him. Finally, he went in the right direction, anxious to see his siblings again.   
Malik approached his home, taking yet another detour to make sure no one was following him. Rummaging around the back of a building, he hound the secret latch that opened the front door. Breathing deeply, he tiptoed down the stairs, pausing to listen before he entered his home. Ishizu was the first to see him, and she sprung up to give her brother a hug.   
“Where are the others little brother?” Ishizu asked, looking over at the entranceway. 

“I left them at the marketplace. I didn't want to bring a bunch of people in here if something was going to happen. Plus I didn't want to show Pegasus where we lived.” Malik looked around, trying to see where the darker halves were.   
“I am glad you boys are finally here. We gave a little problem. When the spirits showed up, they brought a strange message that we can't seem to understand. All we know is that we need to go to Giza and see the pyramids there, and we hope the answers will come.”   
Malik nodded, allowing his sister to lead him into the living room. There were the spirits, still gathered around the piece of parchment. Odion looked up smiling at his brother.   
“Master Malik” He said, jumping up to embrace the boy. Marik saw his lighter half, and gave the boy a grin. He took a moment to look the boy over carefully. Bakura nudged him, smirking.   
“Try to suck in the drool there dear. You're looking at Malik like he's a piece of steak.” Marik licked his lips, continuing to stare at Malik. Malik pretended to not notice, instead bowing to Yami.   
“Hello my Pharaoh. Welcome back.” Yami bowed back, smiling at the final Ishtar sibling. His eyes drifted towards the door obviously looking for Yugi. Malik rolled his eyes, knowing that he made a mistake coming by himself.   
“Odion, do you want to come with me to gather our guests? Where should we take them Ishizu?” Yami's face brightened a hopeful look coming over him.   
“Could I come with you? I want to see Yugi and make sure he is ok.”   
Malik nodded, eyes sliding over to Marik who was grinning maniacally at the former light. Yami rolled his eyes yet again, smacking Marik in the head while muttering something to him in Ancient Egyptian that was certainly not PG-13. Bakura's jaw dropped and his eyes widen, not believing what he was hearing.   
“Alright Yami I get your point. Get off your freaking high horse and calm down?”   
“Yea, besides Marik doesn't have a mother so how could she do that”   
“Thanks for the reminder Bakura. I don't need your help against the stupid Pharaoh!”  
“Whatever you say Marik dear, just remember that when he sends you back into the Shadows because you were mean to him.!”  
“He's not being mean to me. I just want to go see Yugi and you two are not helping me achieve that goal. Now knock it off before I take both of you out.”   
“Whatever. It's not like the little shrimp really wants to see you, he would have already been here if he did.”   
Yami's eyes began to darken, and before he could stop himself, the familiar darkness overtook him totally.   
“Mind Crush!!”   
He shouted as the room grew quiet and two bodies hit the ground. 

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After a long night, the sun finally started to rise in Domino. As it shown through the windows of the Game Shop, it showed a young blond woman laying in bed, staring at a picture. Mai had spent the whole night waking up to look at the picture of Joey and Kaiba, wondering what had happened between the two boys that had caused the picture to be taken.   
Finally she got up, knowing she was going to have to make breakfast for Yugi's Grandpa before the rest of the group showed back up. Grandpa was already awake, sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee in front of him. He looked up at her, smiling at Mai as she entered the room.   
“Good morning my dear, how are you this morning?”   
“I'm ok. I had a long night trying to figure out what our next move should be. Still haven't heard from Joey and the others and I'm a little bit worried about them.” Grandpa studied her for a few seconds, taking in her tired look.   
“I think that photo of Joey and Kaiba has bothered you more than you want to admit. Maybe you should have a talk with Joey about it when he comes back.” Mai shook her head, not wanting to talk about this.   
“I appreciate what you are saying, but Joey and I are just having a little bit of fun. We are not in a relationship, and he is free to flirt with anyone that he chooses.”   
“But is that really what you want dear? I think you really need to reconsider how you see what you two are doing. It's not healthy for either one of you, and I don't want to see either of you ending up hurt.”   
Mai turned her back to Yugi's Grandpa, pouring herself some coffee while tears brimmed her eyes. She blinked for a minutes, turning towards the old man with a smile on her face.   
“How about some breakfast Grandpa? The others should be here soon so we can decide what our next move should be?”   
Solomon nodded, patting the woman on her hand with an understanding smile. Mai grinned back, opening the fridge to see what there was to eat.   
“Hey Mai, what are you cooking?” Tristan questioned, entering the kitchen with a bag and Duke.   
“Eggs and bacon, and if you ask nicely I'll cook some for you too.” The blonde answered, pulling ingredients quickly from the fridge and closing it. Tristan sat down next to grandpa, pulling out his lap top and plugging it in. Duke stood next to his boyfriend, hand on the pointy haired boys shoulder.   
“So Duke and I were talking about what our next move should be, and we think we should call the Kaiba boys and see if they will help us out. Obviously whoever sent these pictures wants Kaiba involved, so we need to see if he remembers anything about when he kissed Joey that might help us out a little.” Mai nodded, not allowing herself to look at Solomons kind eyes.   
“Does anyone have Kaiba's number? Or should we all just go there?” She questioned, pulling out a frying pan.   
“Tea's got it, she had dance class but she will be here in a few minutes... at least I hope so.” A silence came over the room, broken only by the sound of egg shells breaking.   
Duke patted Tristans shoulder before walking over and grabbing a loaf of bread to make toast. He then reached into the bag to pull out some drinks and snacks, which Tristan graciously accepted while he waited for his laptop to load up. A loud ring broke the silence, and Tristan grabbed his phone from his back pocket.   
“It's Joey!” He yelled and answered the call, excited to talk to his best friend.   
“Hey bud did you find the Pharaoh yet? What? Yea I'm here with almost everyone... Hold on I'll put you on speaker phone...” Tristan pressed the button and laid the phone on the counter so they could hear what Joey was saying.   
“So what's going on Joey? Did you guys make it to Malik's home yet?” Tristan asked again, noticing Mai's apprehensive look.   
“Well, we are in Egypt, but Malik took off by himself. He said he wanted to make sure everything was alright before he brought us to his home, but I'm sure there was other reasons he left us behind, and most of them have to do with the one-eyed weirdo that brought us here.” Tristan snorted, covering it up when Duke glared at him.   
“So what's going on home? Is Mai there I tried calling her and her phone was off?” Mai reached for her phone, checking it to see the battery was dead.   
“Yea she's here, her battery is dead. We were just having breakfast... Mai's cooking for all of us. Actually I'm glad you called. Do you have Mokuba's number? We just wanted to check in on him and his brother since nobody has heard from them.” Joey muttered to himself, trying to see if he had the younger boys number still in his phone.   
“Yea, I'll text it too you when we get off, I don't have a lot of time left to talk I'm trying to keep Yugi and Ryou from running off I just wanted to check in with you guys.” Grandpa closed his eyes, worrying about his grandson.   
“Is Yugi there to talk to? I just want to make sure he is ok before we go.” Grandpa asked, and Joey started to mutter to someone quietly.   
“Sure Gramps he's right here, hold on a sec.”   
“Hey Grandpa, I'm fine, just waiting to see Yami.” Yugi's voice filled the kitchen, and his grandpa smiled in relief.   
“Alright Grandson, I just wanted to see how you are. Please be careful, and give our regards to Ryou and Pegasus. Let us know when you are on your way back home.”   
“We will Grandpa, I think the plan right now is to stay the night and fly back in the morning, but if that changes I'll find a way to give you a call. I'd better go, Ryou looks like he's going to have a melt-down any second over something. Please make sure you're resting and letting Mai take care of the hard stuff... i'll see you soon!”   
With that Yugi hung up, leaving Grandpa and the rest of the group staring at the phone. A few seconds later it went off again, a text from Joey reveling Mokuba's cell phone number. Tristan shot off a quick thanks, and immediately dialed the number. After what seemed like a hundred rings he hung up, choosing instead to text Mokuba and hope the younger Kaiba would answer.   
“So, what do we do in the meantime?” Duke asked, twirling his black hair around a finger. Tea rolled her eyes, knowing how impatient all three boys could be. “Well, I brought my lap top, so I guess we can keep on looking for that hook thing.” Tristan suggested, typing in his Windows password as he spoke. Duke and Tea crowded around the small screen, both making suggestions on search words while Mai continued cooking breakfast for everyone.   
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“Seto and Joey sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-”   
“That's enough Mokuba! Stop singing that idiotic song before I send you to your room!”   
“But Seto you have nothing to be embarrassed about, Joey is pretty good looking, with that long blonde hair and big smile and his honey brown eyes...”   
Kaiba snorted, looking yet again through his emails. “You make him sound like a girl Mokuba. I don't think that idiot would appreciate being compared to a woman.”   
Mokuba grinned yet again, his enjoyment not tapered by his brother's foul mood. After all, it wasn't often that Mokuba got to tease his big brother, and even less often that it was over Seto kissing someone.   
The raven haired boy flopped down on his stomach, kicking his feet in the air and resting his chin on one of his hands, like he had seen pictures of girls doing when they were talking about boys.   
He studied his big brother, knowing that if he stared long enough Seto would get annoyed and answer him. A slight pinging noise got his attention, but Mokuba was too wrapped up in tormenting his brother to answer it.   
“So Seto.” He began, enjoying watching his brothers key tapping get rapidly aggressive.   
“So now that you kissed a boy, tell me, did you like it?” Before Mokuba could even blink a pillow came from out of no where, hitting the boy so hard he fell off the couch while his brother smirked. 

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Yami grumbled to himself as he followed Malik through the desert towards Yugi and the others, attempting to ignore the two spirits snickering behind him in Egyptian.   
“Hey Pharaoh, if we don't make it there soon, maybe you should just Mind Crush everyone? Too bad you don't have your powers back yet, or Bakura and I would have been in for it!!” “Please, even when Yami had all of his powers he still was only able to keep me in the Shadow Realm for days at the most. My powers were not even as great as his were, and he still barely beat me in the Shadow Games we played.”   
“You're right Bakura, the only reason he won all the time was because of those other brats, and they aren't around right now. Maybe we should challenge him to a duel to see who would win when the cheerleaders aren't here to show their support?”   
Bakura snickered again, not paying attention to Yami as the former Pharaoh choose that moment to whip around and stare at the two mis-fits. Marik however, did notice Yami's abrupt change and froze in place.   
“Um, Bakura? I think you need to shut your mouth for a minute.” Yami just glared at them, not caring that the Ishtar siblings were staring at them in concern.   
“If the two of you will not stop fooling around and start moving, I will take you both on in a real duel. As a former Pharaoh I have trained in various art forms, and I don't need Shadow Powers to kick both of you into a permeant grave. Do you understand me?” Bakura and Marik both nodded quickly, not wanting to start any more with Yami when he was in a mood. The monarch turned around, motioning to Malik to continue their journey while Bakura leaned over and whispered to Marik  
“He's kinda hot when hes pissed off at us don't you think?” 

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Yugi stood at a market stall, watching as Pegasus spent more than his grandpa made in a month on various trinkets that the stalls were selling. The Duel Monsters Creator certainly had money to burn, and he had already bought what he called 'small gifts' for everyone back home. Small ones that could probably buy someone a very nice car, or maybe even a house. Joey too was watching in fascination as Pegasus spent even more money on things that no one in their right mind would buy. Of course, it was Pegasus but still.   
Joey shuffled his feet, noticing that Ryou was no longer in the stall with the rest of them. Joey looked around before patting Yugi on the back, indicating he was going to look for the Britain. Yugi nodded, to engrossed in Pegasus little trip to leave himself.   
Joey left the tent, looking around for his friend before finally spotting him a little ways down staring into the distance. Sneaking up, Joey draped his am around Ryou's neck. The boy jumped, and Joey grinned, winking at the younger one and grinning.   
“What's wrong Ryou? I haven't seen you this quiet since we came back from Egypt the last time. Everything ok?”  
“You know its not Joey. I m just so.. worried about what's going to happen when the spirits show up. I know Yugi is thrilled, . And he's finally going to get his happy ending. But what about me? I defied Bakura whenever I was about too, and I was beaten and left to die when I make mistakes. Is he back just to kill me, or do you think Bakura has forgotten how I betrayed him to save Yugi and Yami?”  
Joey sighed, patting his friend on the shoulder.   
“I think its going to be just fine. You two are just going to have to talk a few things out when you see each other is all. I'm sure Bakura is not going to enact some curse on your or anything, not with Yami there to protect you!” Ryou sighed, looking back towards Yugi and Pegasus, the older man attempting to buy Yugi a Dark Magician outfit from a vendor.   
“I guess you're right, after all, who would have thought we would be flying to Egypt with Pegasus, or him paying to have Yugi's house fixed? Or that we could have gone a whole four months without having to save the world?”   
Joey winced, ruffling the younger boys hair. “Don't worry Ryou, I'm here too protect you. We're friends, and that's what friends do! Maybe we should call your girlfriend and ask her to give us one of her famous speeches huh?” Ryou quickly shook his head.   
“If she thought I doubted the power of our friendship, I would never hear the end of it... please God no!!” Joey reached for his phone, getting ready to pretend to call back home when a shadow fell over him. Looking up, he saw a flash of white hair, and immediately jumped up, grabbing Ryou and coming face-to-face with the tomb robber.   
“Bakura! Don't sneak up on people like that it's rude.” He yelled, placing a hand over his beating heart. Bakura continued to stare at him, murder in his eyes. Ryou stood next to Joey, his face slowing turning the same shade as his hair. Behind Bakura, Yami was running up to them, eyes bright as he saw the blonde.   
“Joey! Where's Yugi? Is he alright? Why isn't he with you guys?” Joey smiled and pointed behind him at the booth where Yugi and Pegasus were.   
“Pegasus is distracting Yugi by putting him in all kinds of weird outfits... it has been rather entertaining you should go watch.” Yami glared at Joey as he took off, intent on seeing his lighter half immediately. Bakura continued to stare at Joey as well, reaching over the bench to grab his own other self. Ryou allowed himself to be pulled, closing his eyes as he fear the worse. Instead, Bakura buried his face in Ryou's hair, pulling him as close as possible as the former tomb robber breathed in the scent of his light.   
Yugi stood next to Pegasus, watching as the older mans guards walked bags of stuff back to their limo. The stall keeper they had paid was grinning in happiness, having made more in a day than he would make the rest of the year. A warm feeling overtook Yugi, and he turned just in time to see Yami's head appear around the back of an alleyway. His breath caught, and all he could do was stare as Yami's eyes meet his. The Pharaoh ran towards Yugi, ignoring the stares the pair got as he reached his lighter half. He reached for Yugi, pressing his lips down on the younger boy he had waited for what seemed like centuries to see again as Pegasus smiled at the pair. 

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A/N Thank you for taking the time to read. Have a great day and thank you to all who take the time to like this story!!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: So when I was looking up the time zone difference for Egypt and Japan, I accidentally did it for New York instead. (oops) Japan is only 7 hours ahead of Egypt, so in order for the gang there to be having breakfast the group in Egypt would have gotten there after midnight, when no vendors would have been open. So just pretend everyone in Japan was having an extremely late breakfast, so late you might call it lunch... or maybe even an early dinner ;) 

Mokuba twitched on the couch, unable to find a comfortable position to sit on. His brother was still there, typing away on his laptop while he ignored his younger brother. Mokuba had texted Tea back, inviting the gang over for snacks so they could discuss some things. Kaiba of course had rolled his eyes at the thought of spending even more time with the so-called geek squad, and had continued typing.   
Finally the bell rung, and Mokuba ran out of the room, whooping in excitement of having some company. He opened the door, surprise to see all of his friends carry several grocery bags. “Where's your kitchen Mokuba?” Tea inquired, following Mokuba's hand as he pointed towards a door.   
“Great, let's get cooking I'm starved!” Tristan exclaimed, brushing past Tea before entering the kitchen and dumping his bags. Tea rolled her eyes, while Mai chuckled behind her. “Thanks for having us Mokuba, its a lot easier to do research when you can spread out a little.”   
“No problem guys, what did you bring anyway?” “Just stand back Mokuba, Duke Devlin is going to make his world famous Stuffed Pepper Soup. Watch and be amazed.” Duke pulled out several knives and cutting boards, placing them on the counter. Tristan and Tea reached for the peppers, both starting to cut while Grandpa sat on a car, already spent from the short trip.   
Mokuba immediately offered him a drink, which the elder took gratefully. He then began to help Duke, pulling out pots and pans and gathering spices. Nobody noticed that Mai wasn't in the room, the blonde bombshell intent on talking to the older Kaiba brother.   
“Hello Kaiba.” 

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Joey groaned as his stomach growled, reminding him that food on this trip had been rather scarce so far.   
“How long are they going to stare at each other? I know they thought they would never see each other again but still... I'm starved we need to eat!”   
Pegasus, who had finally stopped his shopping, chuckled warmly at the boy.   
“My dear Joseph, I believe you are right. Perhaps one of the vendors will be selling some food that will help to appease you?” Joey smiled, drool starting to form in the corner of his mouth.   
“Hey Yug!!!” Let's get this party moving!!” Yugi didn't respond, too intent on staring at Yami to worry about anything else. Joey frowned, unsure of what to do. He glanced behind him, noting the Bakura and Ryou were still wrapped up in each other while Malik was trying to stay far away from Marik as possible.   
He then saw Ishizu and Odion standing there, both keep a subtle on their brother and his other half. Joey took a step forward, placing a gentle hand on Yugi's shoulder. He smiled at his two friends, hoping they would understand why he was interrupting their staring contests. “Hey Yug? I'm sure you guys had a lot of catching up to do but we still have some things to figure out. Like why they are here and what's going on... Maybe you guys could do this later?” Yugi blushed, looking shyly away from Yami as he turned towards his friend.   
“You're right Joey, we need to get things settled quickly. I don't want to be away from Grandpa that long when he's ill.”   
“What is wrong with him little one?” Yami asked, his deep baritone voice sending thrills down Yugi's spine.   
“He was injured during an earthquake we had in Domino. He's alright, but Mai's home watching him and I don't want to burden her for too long.” Yugi informed him, smiling as Yami took his hand.   
“Well, let's not keep Grandpa waiting... I want to see the rest of our friends too!” With that, he began to drag Yugi over to the rest of the group, with Joey bringing up the rear.   
“Hello Yami. It's good to see you again.” Pegasus told him, bowing a little in the Pharaoh's direction. Yami frowned slightly at him, looking towards Yugi for confirmation that everything was alright. Yugi smiled brightly at Pegasus before squeezing Yami's hand.   
“Yami, Pegasus, Kaiba, Joey and I have been working on a joint venture to help build a new hotel for the Children's Hospital... We had a tournament and everything! It was awesome and we raised a ton of money!” Yami chuckled at his lighter half before addressing Pegasus. “Perhaps now is the time for us to set aside our differences and work together? I could certainly use your expertise in helping us decode something.” Yami reached into his robes and pulled out the parchment that they had been reading, and handed it over to the silver-haired man.   
Pegasus perused it, his one good eye scanning over the ancient symbols as he silently attempt to read it. Bakura choose this moment to turn away from Ryou and approach the older man silently, watching him for any signs of recognition. When Pegasus did not even blink, Bakura grinned to himself, reaching behind him to grab his Hikari and walked over to Yami.   
“Hey Pharaoh! Don't we have some driving to do? Maybe we should get going?” Yami nodded, still trying to puzzle out exactly what their next move should be.   
“Where do we need to go Yami? Do we have some sort of secret mission to be on?” Yugi inquired. Yami nodded, looking over at Bakura.   
“All we can tell is this message has something to do with the building of one of the Ancient Pyramids of Giza. We should probably head over there and see if it brings back any memories that could help us figure out what's going on.” A loud groan was heard, and the group turned to see Joey laying on the ground, holding his stomach as he bemoaned the lack of breakfast he had had. Yami sighed, shaking his head at the sight as Yugi giggled.   
“Well, perhaps after breakfast we could go.” Yugi agreed, holding out a hand to help his best friend off the ground.

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Mai approached the living room, pausing to watch as Kaiba continuously typed on his laptop. She couldn't help but notice how exhausted the elder Kaiba looked, and wondered if it was such a good idea for him to be out of the hospital.   
She shook her head at the thought, intent on continuing her mission. Marching into the room, she pulled out the photos and threw them at the brunet. Kaiba started, oblivious to the fact that Mai had approached him. He looked down at his lap to see the photo of him kissing Joey and frowned, trying to figure out who could have took it.   
“Have anything to say about this Kaiba?” Mai asked, sitting down in a chair and staring at him.   
“I didn't think you cared so much about him Valentine. I thought he was just your playtoy for a few weeks.”   
“I never said I didn't care about him you jackass. I took him in when his father abandoned him, and I gave him a place to stay until he found a better offer than the one he had before. What part of that tells you I didn't care!”   
“Well excuse me to think that someone like you would just see the mutt as a fling. He's not worth much else.” Mai shot up, slapping Kaiba across the face as hard as she could before he could even react.   
“He's more of a man than you'll ever be Kaiba. Just because you manage to beat him in a few duels doesn't make him less than you. Just because you were able to take over a company doesn't make him poorer than you, and just because you don't believe in having friends doesn't make him weaker than you!” Mai snarled, ignoring the stinging in her hand.   
Kaiba's eyes narrowed, acutely aware of his throbbing cheek as he shut his lap top and stood carefully. Blue eyes met purple, and he frowned, knowing somewhere that she wasn't wrong.   
“Wheeler will always be, no matter what anyone says, a mutt. The only person in his life that ever had any sense was his mother, who was smart enough to take his sister and run. I never let anybody take Mokuba, and I would die before being separated from him. The 'bad situation' that you so carelessly speak of involved years of physical and emotional abuse so I could give Mokuba the life that he deserves. I had nothing, and I crawled out of the hole life buried me in with nothing but my own grit and determination. So before you judge me and my life, maybe you should look at yours and your 'boyfriends' and see who is the real man. Now get out of my house and off of my property before I have you removed!”   
Mai flinched, turning on her heel and storming off, leaving Kaiba standing alone in the room. He sank wearily back on the couch, not enjoying how week his body was. Grabbing his phone, he called security to make sure that the blonde really did leave. After receiving confirmation, he turned his attention to the pictures she had thrown at him, looking them over carefully for clues as to who had took them.  
He studied the hook picture first, punching in the serial numbers to see if anything popped up. Then he tried various key words, hoping that would do something. When nothing happened, he turned his attention to the pyramid, and continued his search. A few minutes later he hit paydirt, and picked up his laptop, intent on finding Mokuba and figuring out this mess.  
As he approached the kitchen, he was perplexed to hear voices, and annoyed when he realized who they belonged too. Mokuba's face lit up at his appearance, and he ran over to hug his brother.   
“Seto! You're up! You're just in time dinners almost ready. Dukes an awesome cook maybe we should hire him for the weekends when Chef is away!” Duke chuckled, stirring the soup around.   
“I'm really not that great Mokuba, its just soup. If you really need a chef you should call Joey, that guy can make shoe leather taste good.” Kaiba's eyes narrowed at the blond duelists name, and the mark on his cheek throbbed even more.   
“I don't have any need for any of you in my home, so let's get this business taken care of so you can all leave and I can get back to work. This picture you received is of one of the Dixon relics which were found in the tomb of Khufu back in 1872. They were documented and given back to Dixon, where they disappeared. They were found in 1993 at the British Museum, and they should still be there.” Kaiba offered his laptop to Yugi's Grandpa, who read over the information.   
“Yes, I do remember hearing about this. It was a big scandal when the items turned up at the Museum. It's not the first time that they have been accused of 'loosing' important artifacts. The man in charge of the exhibit was a bit of an airhead to tell you the truth. They said he was in bed with the mob, but I think he wasn't very good at all that paperwork. I believe his name was John E. Smith. His father was a member of the British parliament, but he retired shortly after the artifacts were found. I believe John retired right after the start of the Millennium, after he was accused of 'misplacing' some other artifacts that were found in King Tut's tomb. Perhaps he knowns something of why we got these pictures?” Kaiba frowned, looking over Grandpa's shoulder as he considered their options.  
“A name like Smith is going to be hard to track down, it is a common last name in England. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if he changed his name and moved far away to get away from the scandal. This might take awhile.” Tristan frowned in thought, slicing the bread he had removed from the oven in thought.   
“What about Ryou's father? Doesn't he own the Domino City Museum maybe he can help us?” Tea suggested, looking over at Grandpa. The old man nodded, thinking to himself.   
“That could be a good start Tea, he might know someone over there who knows where John ended up. Maybe we should try to call him after dinner, or see if Ryou could possibly find him.” Tea nodded, reaching for her phone to try text Joey to call when he could.   
After the message went through she put the phone back in her pocket, making sure she could hear it if Joey called back. In the mean time Mokuba had gathered some bowls and was distributing the soup, pausing as he approached his brother.   
“Seto?   
What happened to your face?” Kaiba flinched, annoyed once again at the blonde duelist.   
“Mai and I had a little discussion over the value of certain animals, and she choose to show her displeasure by slapping me. I suggest you find some better friends Mokuba, because she is not welcomed back into this house.”   
“Well that's not very friendly of you all at Kaiba, I'm sorry she hurt your ego but calling people names tends to get that kind of reaction from them!” Tea shouted, approaching the CEO.   
“You can join her in leaving if you'd prefer Gardner. I'm not in the mood to deal with any of you at this point.”   
“Seto please, just sit down. You need to eat dinner, and I'm sure Mai will be willing to apologize for slapping you. Can I please call her and ask her to come back?” Mokuba asked, giving him brother huge puppy dog eyes.   
Kaiba nodded his consent, too tired to continue this argument. He opted instead to drop in a chair, avoiding the eyes of the crowd as he silently asked for patience from whatever god could here him. Mokuba picked up his phone, hoping that Mai would pick up for him. He had finally started to truly make friends, and he didn't want Seto's issues getting in the way. 

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Joey sat in the back of the Ishtars car, watching Marik out of the corner of his eye. In order to fit everyone for their trip, they had to split into two vehicles. Since Yami and Bakura had refused to be separated from their lights, they had gone in the limo. Joey was going to go with them, but Malik had begged him to go with them to help keep him from Marik.   
Joey had agreed, not wanting to stress his friend out but seeing Marik stare at the two of them brought back not so pleasant memories, and he wondered what would happen when they all got back to Domino. Marik smiled, noticing Joeys discomfort and enjoying him fidgeting on the seat.   
“Why hello Joey, it's been a long time hasn't it? How have you been? Have you recovered from being struck by Ra during our last duel?” Joey frowned, remembering how much pain he was in for a long time after Marik had been banished. If it hadn't been for his dads pill habit... Joey brushed the thought away, not wanting to remember how low he had sunk without his friends knowing.   
“Yea I recovered Marik. Thank you so much for your kindness and concern for my health.” Malik watched them talk, not wanting to interrupt but not wanting Joey to suffer either.  
“How is that pretty blonde woman that I sent to the Shadow Realm? I can't remember her name... Meg was it? Or perhaps Mal?”   
Joey clenched his fists, trying to ignore Mariks voice as he continued to taunt him. Ishizu turned her head, looking Marik straight in the eyes.   
“Now that you are back, I think its time to lay down some ground rules. The first is that as a member of this family, you will be respectful to the Pharaoh and those he calls friends. Now apologize to Joey, or I'll show you what I've been up too since you were banished!”   
Malik smiled, knowing that his sister was training in the art of Tahtib, or the stick dance. While many who practiced this fighting style did it to perform for tourists, there were some who took it to the next level and trained for fighting. It was surprisingly effect, since no one would expect someone to attack them in the middle of a dance. Ishizu took classes in several other martial arts forms, after all being a woman who traveled alone quite a bit had its disadvantages.   
Marik frowned at her, rolling his eyes as he continued to look out the window.   
“Fine, he bores me anyway. I don't enjoy playing with toys once they've been broken.” Marik immediately began to hum to himself, ignoring everyone else that was in the car.   
Ishizu sighed, wondering what she could have possibly done to deserve going through all this.  
“Anyway we are about 15 minutes away from the pyramids Joey. Perhaps this would be a good time for you to call your friends? We can stop up here a little bit, once we get closer cell service can be a little sketchy.” Joey smiled, relaxing a bit in his seat.   
“That sounds like a plan to me! I'm sure everyone back home can't want to hear about how we found the Pharaoh!” 

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Mokuba frowned as his phone hung up without even ringing. Checking that he had the right person he attempted the call again. Hitting send, he listened to the ringing before an abrupt beeping started, then a voice informed him that the number was no longer in service. He frowned as he stared at the phone, trying to figure out how Mai could have switched her number so quickly.   
“Um guys? Can someone try to call Mai? My phone says that her number is out of order?” Tea quickly pulled hers out, frowning as she received the same message as Mokuba.  
“Her phone was dead this morning, maybe she wasn't able to charge it? Would that give an error message?”  
“I don't think so guys, this is kinda strange what do you think-” Duke stopped mid sentence as a maid appeared in the doorway, handing Kaiba a white envelope before walking back out. Kaiba stared at the envelope for a few seconds, unsure of what was going on. Finally he opened it, and he couldn't help but pale at the pictures.   
“Mokuba, call Roland.”   
“What's going on Seto? Did something happen to Mai?”  
“MOKUBA!.CALL ROLAND and get security in here this instant! Don't waste time asking me questions right now.” Mokuba nodded, dialing Rolands number quickly before his brother could freak out.   
As soon as Kaiba saw his brother was occupied, he placed the photos down on the counter so everyone else could see them.   
Tea gasped, turning her face away from the images of Mai bruised and bloody and locked in the trunk of a car. Tristan growled, while Duke attempted to keep his boyfriend calm. Grandpa shook his head sadly, placing his hands together in a silent prayer to someone. Kaiba kept staring at the pictures, a frantic feeling deep in his bones that was much like when Mokuba was missing.   
He flipped the picture over, looking for some clue as to what was going on. On the back, there was a series of numbers, which Kaiba quickly recognized as the numbers written on the hook they had received pictures of. Kaiba frowned at the picture, not understanding what had happened.   
All he knew was that Mai was gone, and whatever game the group had gotten involved in just got bigger and more dangerous. His first priority was to find Mai. She had disappeared off his property, and Kaiba would not rest until the people who had taken her were caught. A sudden ringing broke the dazed confusion in the room, and Kaiba was barely listening when he heard Tristan whisper   
“It's Joey! What do I tell him?”   
Tristan began to panic, unsure of how to tell Joey that Mai may have been kidnapped. Grandpa held out his hand, smiling at the group reassuringly as he took the phone and answered it.   
“Hello Joseph! How is your trip going?”   
“Gramps! What are you doing answering Tristans phone?”   
“I asked him for it because I wanted to see how my grandson is doing, is Yugi there?”   
“I feel like we've had this conversation before Gramps I'm being to get a complex from handing the phone over all the time. Yugi's fine, hes off using the bathroom. I'm sitting here with Ryou, Yami and Odion while everyone else wanders around a bit. We're heading towards some pyramid, apparently whoever sent Yami, Bakura and Marik back did so with a message.” Grandpa closed his eyes, absorbing the information he just got from Joey.   
“Well, we received a message here too Joseph. That's actually why we tried to call you before. Someone sent pictures to the shop from an expedition at the Pyramid of Khufu, and we identified the object as one that is housed in the British Museum. We wanted to see if Ryou could get some information from his father for us.”   
“Hold on a sec Gramps, let me pass him the phone so you can talk to him.” There was a brief pause, then Ryou's soft voice greeted Grandpa. Quickly outlining the information they needed, Ryou offered to send his father a message, and to pass along the Game Shop's number to him. Grandpa sighed in relief, hoping this information might lead them to whoever took Mai.   
“Let me put Joey back on the phone with you, Yugi is coming back and I need to use the rest room as well.”   
“Before you do that, please let me talk to Yami. I have an urgent message for him as well.” Ryou handed the phone to the Pharaoh, ignoring Joey's exaggerated sigh at being overlooked once again. Grandpa could hear Yami's deep chuckle, then his voice over the line.   
“Hello Grandpa. It's good to speak to you again. What is it that you needed to tell me?” “Pharaoh, I know that you are in the middle of something,but we have a situation here. Mai has disappeared. We have received a photo of her, and it looks like someone has kidnapped her. Please, find Yugi and keep him safe, and be careful of how you tell Joey. They have gotten together, and I don't want him to do anything stupid until we know more of what could have happened.” Yami didn't answer for a moment, and Grandpa was concerned that he had hung up.   
“Grandpa? It's Yugi. How are you feeling? Are you resting like the doctor said or did Mai have to tie you to the bed?” Grandpa smiled a little, relieved at hearing his voice.   
“I'm fine Yugi, I'm just in the middle of something. I talked to the Pharaoh, I just wanted to hear your voice. You need to finish what you're doing and come home. There is something going on and I want you safe where I can see you.”   
“Ok Grandpa, we will be home soon I promise. We just need to figure out how to explain Yami, Bakura, and Marik to customs.” Yugi's confused voice answered, obviously wondering what his Grandfather was worried about.   
“Just come home Yugi, as soon as you safely can. I'll let you go so Joey's phone doesn't give out, I love you Grandson.”   
“Love you too Grandpa. We will see you soon.” With that they hung up, and Grandpa handed the phone to Tristan, placing his head in his hands as he attempted to avoid looking at the pictures of the kidnapped Mai. 

A/N: If youre interested in learning more about this artifact, here's the website I found that shows pictures. http://guardians.net/hawass/articles/secret_doors_inside_the_great_pyramid.htm  
Theres some interesting information there about the Pyramid, which isn't important to the story but if you want to know a little bit about this there it is!


	11. Back home again

A/N: There's a bit of a time jump here, I felt that we spent enough time in Egypt for now. Couple of possible triggers in this chapter so please read with caution. 

 

Yami watched Joey carefully out of the corner of his eye, not sure of what to say to the blond duelist. He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut and bowing his head, gathering his courage to speak. After all, he was the Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt. He had dealt with Shadow Games and Psycho killers, surely he could tell Joey that Mai had come up missing.   
He looked at the Pyramids to the west of them, wondering what secrets they could be hiding from them that could solve this mystery. Joey appeared next to him, face screwed up in determination of helping his friends on this adventure. Yami grimaced, knowing that the longer he waited the worse this was going to be.   
“Joey? I have some bad news for you...” He began, telling Joey what Grandpa had told him. He could barely watch the light drain out of Joey's eyes, and the shoulders slump as the fight left him. Yami turned, grabbing Joey by the shoulders as the blonde slumped to the ground, silently sobbing as he mouthed Mai's name over and over.   
Yugi ran over to his friend, mindlessly pushing Yami out of the way as he knelt by him. Ryou and Malik weren't far behind, both ignoring their darker halves to comfort the blond who had been a protector to all three of them. Ryou met Yugi's eyes and mouthed at him, trying to figure out what could have caused Joey to completely shut down like this. Yugi shrugged, looking up at Yami with tears in his eyes.   
Yami could do nothing but stand their, watching as the three boys held their friend while he grieved and worried over the lost of the woman he loved. Pegasus stood by, using the little magic he still had to probe Joeys mind and deduct what happened. He immediately called his security guard over, giving them short instructions on what their next step would be. He then approached Yami, indicating that he should leave the boys alone for a minute.   
“I have instructed my guards to get our plane here as soon as possible. We need to leave Egypt and get home. It's not a good idea for Yugi-boy and his friends to be here any longer than possible.” Yami nodded, absorbed in his thoughts.   
“So here's my plan...”  
5 hours later they took off, a slightly more stuffed plane than they had before. Pegasus had left a few guards behind, with the express job of finding Shadi and getting him back to Domino. Ishizu and Odion had stayed behind also, hoping to do some more research on the Pyramids that could help them. Malik had offered to stay and help them, but Ishizu refused, telling her brother that he would be more help going to school and staying out of trouble. Marik had grinned at this, wrapping an arm around his other halves shoulders before promising to keep an eye on him. Malik flinched, then agreed to go with the rest of the gang, hugging his brother and sister good-bye as he boarded the plane.   
Bakura was the last to enter, wiggling his fingers at Odion and winking as the plane door shut behind him. Looking around, he noticed Ryou sitting next to Yugi, and promptly grabbed his light and moved him as far away from his friend as possible, glaring at the younger boy until Yami snapped at him to knock it off.   
Yugi frowned, turning his attention to Joey who was staring blankly out of the window, fingers tapping his cell phone. Yugi gently took Joeys hand and closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer that Mai was ok and would be found as quickly as possible. 

One Week Later...

Joey stretched in his chair, bored of out his mind. His gaze kept going to the windows, and he frowned as the rain continued to come down. He glanced at the teacher, who was facing the chalkboard and prattling on about the importance of mathematically proving that two triangles were the same size.  
“Because no body could just take a ruler and measure them... stupid proofs are going to make me fail and I'll never graduate with everyone else!” Joey sighed, picking up his pencil to attempt to follow what the teacher was saying. Tristan sat behind him, watching his best friend with worried eyes.   
It had been a week since Joey, Yugi, and Ryou had gone to Egypt, and almost a week since Mai had come up missing. Joey never mentioned the womans name, and if someone brought her up or asked him how he was doing, Joey completely shut down, not answering any questions and disappearing for hours. The blond was obviously in pain, and none of his friends could do anything to help. All they could do for now was sit around and wait for something to happen, and for any clue of who could have taken Mai away. Finally the school day ended and the gang gathered at their regular spot, all of them silently taking inventory that no one else had gone missing.   
Yugi smiled at Duke as he appeared, the last member to show up. Relief flooding his body as he double counted everybody and he smiled, glad to be through another day.   
“How about if we go to my house for dinner tonight? My mom is on a cooking spree and she wants to try out some new recipes on everyone!” Tea announced, smiling brightly at the group while holding Ryou's hand.   
Tristan's eyes lit up, remembering how good Mrs. Gardners cooking was as he began to drool. Duke slapped his boyfriend on the back while smiling at Tea, agreeing to join them for dinner. Yugi hesitated, looking over at Joey who was staring off into the distance.   
“I think I should go to the shop first and check in on Grandpa and Yami... Pegasus had sent some men over to fix the roof and I want to make sure everyone is getting along ok.” Yugi reached for the blondes arm, attempting to shake him out of the melancholy that had covered Joey's face. Joey blinked, staring at his friends in confusion as he attempted to remember what the conversation had been about.   
“Tea invited us to dinner tonight Joey. How about if we go home and get Yami and we can go over.” Yugi whispered, rubbing Joey's arm gently as he smiled at the blonde.   
“Mom said to invite Grandpa too Yugi... She wants to thank him for taking care of us during our trip to Egypt.” Tea interrupted the two boys, pushing Yugi away as she reached for Joey herself. Hands on his shoulders, she looked straight into the boys honey-colored eyes, her own blue shining with worry.   
“Joey, you're my friend, and everyone knows that friendship is the most powerful thing in the world. I'm worried about her too, we all are. Mai's been through so much she doesn't deserve this. However, we need to focus and get our heads on straight so we can help her, and until Ryou's dad can locate Mr. Smith we are just spinning our wheels. We've had no contact with the people who took her, and no clues as to why. Maybe having all of us in one room will trigger something, it always seems to work in the movies.” Joey sighed and looked away, gazing into the distance at something.   
“Yug why don't you go ahead and get to Tea's? I'll walk to the Game Shop and check on things, and collect Yami and Grandpa.” Yugi nodded, knowing that Joey needed sometime to himself.   
“Alright Joey!” Tristan crowed, grabbing his best friend and rifling the boys' hair.   
“Give me a call when you get to the Game Shop, I'll swing by and pick you guys up. I have to go home and check on my own shop anyway.” Duke offered, pulling Tristan off of Joey and shaking his head at the brunet.   
“Come on shark-boy, we've got things to do.”   
“Shark-boy! Why you-” Tristan's rant was cut off when Duke slapped his hand over Tristan's mouth and started to drag the other boy away, waving at their friends as he took off.   
Joey watched them go and sighed, turning on his heel to head towrds the Game Shop.   
“Ill see you guys at Tea's.” He muttered under his breath, walking away as the rest of the gang stared at him.   
Joey walked down the streets, kicking at a few small stones while he let his thoughts wander off. Inside his jacket was a scarf of Mai's, which he kept on him whenever he left the house. Whenever he was alone, which wasn't often, he would pull it out and smell Mai, wondering when she could be and what she was doing- or what was being done to her.   
Joey played with the scarf absentmindedly, wondering what else he could do to find the blonde before something awful happened to her. He barely noticed the other people on the street, weaving around them almost as if in a trance until he suddenly collided with some one else. Sharp pain radiated through his shoulder as he dropped Mai's scarf and a voice rang out   
“Boy, didn't someone teach you to respect your elders?” 

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Ever since coming home, Yami had spent all of his time with Yugi and his Grandpa, catching up on things that ad happened while Yami was in the Afterlife. The most interesting was the fact that Pegasus had tuned into one of Yugi's biggest supporters, and had even forged some sort of relationship with the Kaiba brothers.   
Less surprising was Joey's relationship with Mai. Yami had noticed that the two blondes were hiding feelings for each other, and he had privately wondered many times which one would make the first move.   
Now Mai was missing, and Joey spent all the time he wasn't in school in his room moping. Yami worried for his friend, but the blondes personal issues kept detaining Yami from his goal-Yugi. He needed to bring Yugi back to him, and to convince him that they needed to change their relationship from friends to lovers. Yami couldn't go back to the Afterlife, he needed his light to balance out the darkness in that place.   
The months of being in the afterlife caused Yami great stress, being apart from his light, his other half. He had been so lonely that he had seeked out the company of the Tomb Robber and Tomb Keeper- the only other two who could understand how it felt to miss the other half of one's soul. The three had become un-separable, doing everything together while talking about their missing partners.   
Days flew by like hours in the afterlife, and the longer that all the boys spent together the more Yami had trouble denying his feelings for the other two. Being with Marik and Bakura reminded Yami of the old him, the man he had been before Yugi's light had begun to penetrate his darkness, when he took control of Yugi's body shamelessly to enact justice on those who attempted to destroy his host.   
Sending people to the Shadow Realm while their bodies stayed behind trapped in bizarre games had given Yami a sick sort of pleasure, and the twisted games he played with Bakura and Marik had brought back that same sort of feeling. The other two agreed, their combined darkness feeding off each other   
Then one day it all changed.   
Bakura had been tying Yami to the bed when Marik burst in, waving a piece of paper around. His cries caused Bakura to pause and Yami to sit up, wincing as the ropes tore into his flesh. Marik didn't notice, jumping on the bed as he continued to wave the paper under Yami's nose.   
“We have to go home! They're in danger we have to leave now!” Yami frowned, attempting to read the paper that was going back and forth under his nose.   
“Marik! What the hell are you talking about? Who's in danger?” Bakura snapped, grabbing the paper from Marik's hand and reading it, growing pale as he finished. Yami grunted on the bed, trying to pull his wrists free from Bakura's expertly tied knots. Marik placed a hand on Yami's chest, leaning down til he was forehead-to-forehead with the former Pharaoh.   
“There's been a threat made against our lights, we need to go home.” Yami groaned and shook his head, not believing what he was hearing.   
“I thought we got rid of the Great Evil. Or I did anyway. Wasn't that suppose to be Bakura? Or you? Or Pegasus? Maybe Dartz I can't really remember at this point there has been so many.” Bakura growled at the former Pharaoh before clamping his hand over Yami's mouth. He then turned to Marik, eyes flashing dangerously.   
“So, how do you propose we get back home?”   
Yami froze as the rest of the memory disappeared from him, including the knowledge of what was written on that piece of paper. The same paper they had appeared with, hidden in Bakura's pocket. Yami groaned, holding his head in his hands as he tried to remember what it could have said. After all, this memory could be the key to finding Mai and figuring out this whole thing.   
“Why is it always my memory that's faulty? Couldn't someone else forget something for once.” A quiet buzzing noise had interrupted him, and Yami looked down to see his cell phone going off.   
Pegasus had supplied each of them with their own private number, in case something happened and they all needed to be contacted quickly. Kaiba had frowned at the thought, but after a private chat with the billionaire he had agreed to take it, making sure to check the phone over carefully for bugs or any other devices.   
Yami didn't really understand the importance of the thing, but it did mean that he could be in touch with Yugi whenever the younger boy was at school, and that thought kept Yami at ease. It also helped of course that Bakura and Marik took turns hiding in the bushes at the school, keeping an eye on their respective lights and for any trouble.   
Yami would have loved to help them but he stayed behind, keeping an eye on Yugi's grandpa and the workers who were fixing the roof. Luckily the Game Shop needed to be closed for renovations, so no one had to worry about that. Yami instead spent a lot of time playing games with Grandpa, swapping stories with the older man about the things he had learned about his ancient past and attempting to fill in some holes about his people and their customs without giving away too much. Grandpa was pleased with the information, hoping that some of it may help him discover some new artifacts for the museum.   
A buzzing noise sounded again, reminding Yami that he had a message. Picking the phone up, he saw the message from Bakura, letting him know that Joey was on his way home by himself and Marik was going to follow Yugi, Malik and Ryou to Tea's where they were all going for dinner.   
Yami shot off a quick 'thanks' and closed his eyes, hoping that a few minutes of quiet would bring back a memory that was on the tip of his mind and could solve all of their problems. 

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Joey's head snapped up at the sound of the voice, and he turned to see the last person he expected to see- his father.   
“Why hello son. It's nice to see that you didn't forget about your dear old dad. I hear you've been shacking up with a whore and she's been paying all your bills. If I would have known you were so good in bed I wouldn't be so far in debt right now.”   
The elder Joseph Wheeler paused, looking his only son up and down appraisingly.   
“What are you doing here dad? I though you took off after your bill collectors came after you for non-payment?” Joey asked, clenching his fists in case his father tried something.   
“I just wanted to catch up is all my boy, haven't seen you in awhile, and I wanted to make sure you were doing alright.”   
“Yea I am, now get out of my way I have things too do.” Joseph grabbed his son by the neck, pulling the boy off the street and into an alleyway.   
“Shut up you ungrateful little-” Joseph stopped, straightening up and dropping Joey, allowing the boy to choke down some air.   
“I mean, beloved son of mine, I would love to sort out all of the things that went wrong in our relationship, but I don't have the time. I do however have something that you might want. I know where your whore is, and if you're willing to play a little game with me I might divulge that information.”   
Joey saw red, and he swung at his father, managing to get in a few licks before the bigger man pinned him.   
“I wouldn't do that again boy. See I owe a lot of money to some very bad people. Then one day you disappear and I have no protection. After all, you were my collateral, the people I played with have a thing for pretty blondes like yourself. So I struck a deal with them. I offered them a blonde, they offered to canceled my debt. Of course, I couldn't find you, but I did find that beauty you've been screwing. She's quite the fiesty one, I almost wanted to play with her myself but I promised to bring her undamaged. Thanks to her I'm debt-free, and I've been given a little present to deliver to you.”   
With that Joseph pushed his son towards a dumpster, opening the lid and pointing inside. Joey looked, face pale as he saw the dead body inside, recoiling at the smell of rotting flesh.   
“The men I owed money too told me you've been looking for him, something about solving a mystery. They suggested you search the body, maybe you'll find something interesting.” Joey trembled, looking down at the body in shock as he attempted not to vomit.   
“Good luck boy, I think you're going to need it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a new toy to ride.” Joey spun around at this comment, but his father was already halfway down the alleyway and disappearing into the crowd. Joey looked back down at the dead body, drawing upon all of the strength he had from his days in a gang.   
Shuffling through the mans pockets, he unfolded a few receipts and some cash, which he put back. Gently pulling on the mans coat, he noted grimly that the body had been redressed after he had died, since there was no dried blood on the clothes. He gently unbuttoned the shirt, frowning as a piece of paper appeared on the mans chest.  
If you want to see the girl again, figure out our next clue alone. No friends, no family take this message and go. Any suspicion we will kill her. We are watching you, so take care. The cops will be here in 10 minutes so don't get caught.  
Joey jumped away from the dumpster, panicking as he tried to figure out his next move. Hearing sirens in the distance he reacted quickly, grabbing the paper off the dead mans chest and fleeing, hoping the cops wouldn't see him.   
Trying to stroll casually, he walked into a coffee shop, ordering a drink and sitting down with the note. He read it again, looking around briefly to see if someone was noticeable staring at him. No luck on that front. Joey then flipped the paper over, blanching at the words on the back.   
“Of course it could be easy.” He muttered, trying to decode the message. 

 

Zit Uktqztlz Rqfutk ygk dglz gy xl ol fgz ziqz gxk qod ol zgg ioui qfr vt doll oz, wxz ziqz oz ol zgg sgv qfr vt ktqei oz.

Doeitsqfutsg

A/N: Feel free to try to decipher the message if you would like. It's a famous quote if that helps... And please don't forget to review!!!


	12. Dinner and a fight

Joey sunk into his seat at the coffee shop, rubbing his fingers over the piece of paper his father had left him.   
'Next time I see him, I will kill him.'  
Joey vowed to himself as he tried to figure out the message that was on the paper. A sudden beeping sound made him jump, and he checked his phone to see a message from Yugi, wondering if Joey had made it back to the game shop alright. Grabbing his coat, Joey shoved the note back into his pocket and left the shop, not noticing he was being carefully watched.   
Walking into the Game Shop, Joey nodded at Grandpa before disappearing into the back.   
“Yami? You in here?”   
The former Pharaoh appeared, nodding at his friend before awkwardly patting him on the arm.   
“Bakura texted me and told me you were coming to collect us to go to Tea's. I appreciate that since I have no clue where I am going, and Grandpa is not very good at remembering this either.”   
Joey smiled briefly at this comment, trying not to wince as Yami touched his bruised arms.   
“Joey? Is something wrong? Why are you making that face?”   
Yami inquired, remembering the blondes pained looks well from Battle City.   
“It's nothing Yami, just ran into a little bit of trouble on the way home.” Yami's eyes flashed as he looked over Joey carefully, noticing that the blonde was attempting to cover a rapidly forming black eye with his hair.   
“What happened Joey? Did you get into a fight with someone?”   
“I ran into my father on the way home, he had a few choice words for me and we ended up getting into a fight... he got a few lucky punches in.”   
Joey admitted, not quite looking Yami in the eyes. Yami frowned, knowing that Joey was hiding something. Biting his lip, Yami gently pulled Joey into the bathroom.   
“Well, if you don't want a million questions being asked while you are at Tea's you'd better wash up a bit before we go. I'll go grab you some new clothes to put on.”  
Yami turned and walked out the door, leaving Joey alone in the room. Joey stared into the mirror, noting the dark circles under his red, puffy eyes.   
“God I look like a disaster, what the hell is wrong with me. Get it together Joey, you won't save Mai looking like this.”   
Reaching over, he shut and locked the bathroom door, sinking down on the floor with the puzzle in his hand, reading it over and over again. He continued to gaze at it as Yami stood outside the door, and ignored the sounds of clothes falling to the ground and Yami's light footsteps as he walked away from the door.  
Yami wandered downstairs to the Game Shop where Yugi's Grandpa was finishing up setting up some inventory. The renovations were going well, and Grandpa was determined to be open by the end of next week. The damage to the shop had turned out to be rather minor, but the doctor wouldn't allow Solomon to go back to work until yesterday, and Yami didn't know enough about the shop to help out.   
With all the publicity surrounding the Game Shop after the big fund-raiser, people were calling the shop constantly wondering when it was going to re-open. It got so bad that Mokuba had bought a new answering machine, and recorded a message encouraging people to wait for a 'grand re-opening' announcement that would be made personally by Kaiba Corp in the next few weeks.   
Mokuba had then turned the phone ringer off, and peace had come back to the game shop. Yami shook his head, wondering yet again what the younger Kaiba had up his sleeve. Whatever it was it was probably going to be a giant pain for everyone involved. While Mokuba's intentions were good, he had a way of blowing things up to the point that the couldn't be control by anyone, not even his older brother. Allowing Mokuba to arrange any kind of celebration was going to turn into an ordeal, but Yami would just have to deal with that when the time comes. For now, he had more urgent matters to deal with.   
“Grandpa, can you go talk to Joey? He has looked himself into the bathroom and I'm concerned for him.”   
Solomon nodded before walking quietly out of the room, only stopping to quickly instruct Yami on what needed to be done before they left.. Yami nodded, turning towards the boxes that Grandpa had been opening and starting to unwrap merchandise and put it back up on display.   
After almost an half hour Grandpa returned, trailed by a solemn looking Joey. The older man was frowning, obviously fretting about Joey's bruised eye. Yami attempted to smile at the blonde, hoping to encourage him but Joey looked away, refusing to make eye contact at all. Grandpa snatched his keys off the counter and motioned for the two boys to walk out of the shop, slamming the door and locking it after them as Yami frowned and Joey stared at his shoes.

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Yugi bounced on his toes, waiting for Joey, Yami, and Grandpa to show up.   
'I should have gone with Joey, he needs people around him while all this is going on... What kind of friend am I?” Yugi frowned, trying to ignore that nagging thought in the back of his mind that Joey's pain was all his fault. If only Yugi had told Joey not to return to Egypt with them, he would have been here, and maybe he would have saved Mai from being kidnapped by whoever was after them now. Then again, maybe both of them would have been taken, and Yugi would have been without his best friend.   
The thought made his chest hurt, and Yugi quickly banished it from his mind. Right now, they needed to find Mai and figure out what was going on, and who these people were that were behind this. Yugi would just have to hope that Mai could be found and she wouldn't suffer even more trauma because of this. Yugi continued his bouncing, counting the seconds in his head and starting to worry even more...   
“Where are they anyway?”  
Inside the Gardner residence, it was packed full of people. Tea's mom, realizing that she was feeding a whole group of boys, had decided to go with a simple Italian dish, knowing that all of the kids would be happy just having someone cook for them. She shook her head, wondering briefly if she should be concerned that her only daughter spent all of her time with a bunch of boys. In fact, there wasn't a girl in the group, now that her friend Mai was back on the dueling circuit.   
“At least I don't have to worry about anyone hurting her I guess.”   
Angie muttered to herself while she twirled a huge pot of noodles.   
Ryou was in the living room with Bakura, Duke and Tristan, attempting to set up a table so everyone could eat together.   
“How many people do we have anyway?”   
Tristan muttered, and Ryou stopped and started to count on his fingers.   
“I think 13, so we are going to need another table put somewhere.”   
Bakura immediately appeared next to his light, smiling at the boy as he handing Ryou another card table. Ryou rolled his eyes at Bakura before walking away from the older man. Bakura frowned, staring at his light as he left the room.   
“I don't understand why he things she is so much better than I am... she's a cream puff! I traveled through time to get back here, I opposed the Gods to return and he rejects me!” Duke shook his head at Bakura's ranting while Tristan rolled his eyes.  
Tea was setting up the buffet table when Ryou appeared, grabbing a few tablecloths and walking back out, pausing only to kiss his girlfriend on the cheek. Tea giggled, happy that Ryou had stood up to his Yami and told him that he wasn't going to leave Tea for him. That took a lot of guts,and Tea was silently surprised that Ryou had done it. Bakura was less than pleased, and he tried daily to convince Ryou he was making a mistake.   
Ryou wouldn't hear of it, and for the first few days after they returned from Egypt Ryou had barely even spoken to his former Yami, instead spending the last few days with Tea and leaving the white-haired former thief to his own devices. Tea privately thought that wasn't the best of ideas, but she trusted Ryou to deal with his Yami. Tea just stayed out of Bakura's way, not willing to trifle with the spirit. He had done enough damage to her already, and she was smart enough not to put herself in harms way again.   
Ryou reappeared in the living room, placing the tablecloths down and starting to arrange them. Bakura approached him to help, and Ryou smacked his hands away.   
“I'm just trying to be nice Ryou, can't you accept that.”   
“You can be nice by helping me set the table Bakura, otherwise keep your hands to yourself.”  
“Fine Princess, have it your way.” Bakura snapped and sulked out of the room, Tristan and Duke snickering after him.   
Finally, Joey drove up to Tea's house and pulled into the driveway. Helping Grandpa out, he couldn't help but smiled at Yugi as the shorter duelist approached him, bouncing up and down at the sight of his best friend.   
“Hey Joey thanks for getting Gramps and Yami for me!”   
“No problem Yug, I had to change anyway.” Joey replied, attempting and quickly failing to hide his black eye from Yugi. Yugi frowned, opening his mouth to ask a question when he noticed Yami shaking his head at him.   
'Later' the former Pharaoh mouthed, and Yugi nodded, reaching out to grab Joey's hand and pull him inside, leaving Yami to help Grandpa.  
Many pots of pasta later, Joey and Yami were in the kitchen, helping to clean up after dinner. Since neither boy had done the prep work, they were stuck scrapping dishes and loading the dishwasher while everyone else was relaxing and eating dessert. Joey could feel his stomach growling, and he couldn't help but feel a little bit ashamed. Here he was, enjoying a great meal with his friends and Mai was missing. Who knows what was happening to her after all his... father had definitely been suggesting that Mai was in trouble. And if what the old man had been saying was true, Joey worried for Mai, deep down in his soul. He worried he couldn't save her, and this time, even though Yami was here, Mai was going to be lost to them forever.   
“Joey? Are you alright?” Yami questioned, placing his hand on Joey's arm gently.   
“Yami I... I don't know anymore. I'm just so scared of what might happen next. I mean, I keep letting Mai down. I keep letting people take her away from me, and I seems that no matter how hard I fight or how hard I try to protect her, she's always missing. She's always in trouble and I can't stop it. I love her Yami, but every time I get a chance with her something awful happens. It's like fate is trying to keep us apart and I don't know how to stop it. Then my father shows up, and he basically tells me he's behind the whole thing, and he tells me its all my fault, and now I have to live with the fact that I may have killed the only woman I have ever loved.” Joey rambled, unable to stop himself.   
Yami sighed, unsure of what to say to the blond.   
“Joey, I promise that I will do everything in my power to help you save her. Bakura, Marik and I were sent back here for a reason, and I think this is it. Please, allow us to help you. We all want to find Mai and get her back here where she is s-”   
“Yami!!!” Yugi shouted, bursting into the kitchen.   
“You need to get out here, Ryou's dads on the phone he found John Smith!!!”   
Joey blanched as he heard Yugi's announcement, he knew what was coming and it wasn't going to be good. He followed the two Duelist champions into the living room, where most of the gang had gathered, watching Ryou talked to his father.   
The white haired boy was talking quietly into the phone, his face growing paler as his father continued to speak. Ryou sank into the couch, and Bakura quietly came up next to him and began to rub the boy's shoulders. Finally Ryou hung up, burying his face in his hands to avoid talking to anyone.   
“Ryou? What happened? Did your father find out where he was?” Yami inquired, kneeling down so he was face-to-face with the other boy. Ryou lifted his head and stared Yami straight in the eye, before announcing   
“He's dead. His body was found stuffed into a dumpster a couple blocks away from the Game Shop.” A collective gasp was heard, and Yami sank back onto his heels, closing his eyes as if he was willing Ryou's words away.   
“The police found him after someone phoned in an anonymous tip, apparently a couple saw two blonde men fighting near the dumpster and they called the police when they started hitting each other. By the time the police got there, the men were gone but they found the body.” One by one heads slowly turned towards Joey and he slowly turned away from the eyes that were trying to not accuse him of anything, but only questioned where he had been earlier that day. Yugi was the first one to speak.   
“Joey, where did you get those bruises from? Was it your father?”   
“Yug, what the hell are you trying to say?!?! Do you think that I did this? Why would I kill someone who was going to help us hopefully get Mai back?” Yugi shook his head, holding his hands up as he tried to calm the blonde down.   
“Joey, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, I'm just trying to find out what happened to you because I'm your friend!!” Joey backed out of the room, hands up in the air as his friends all stared at him. Before anyone could react, he turned on his heel and ran out the back door, pass a startled Solomon and Angie who were sipping coffee along with Tea's father, swapping stories about the adventures their children had been in. 

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Joey dashed down the street, not really sure of where he was going.   
“How am I suppose to explain this to everyone? I can't tell them about the note, not if I want Mai to live. But I can't figure this all out by myself. I need help and I don't know where to get it.” Depressed and alone, Joey wandered the streets, not sure of where he should go next. Finally, he stopped at the park and sat on a bench, pulling out his phone. Joey wasn't use to having one of these smart phones, and it had taken him awhile to get the hang of it. It hadn't helped that Pegasus had insisted on giving all of them the newest phones, with additional bells and whistles that made doing even simple tasks even more difficult. Joey grumbled every time he had to use the thing, but he couldn't deny that it made his life quite a bit easier.   
Opening Google, he started to do some random searches, trying to look for something that could help him solve this puzzle. Finally, after almost 10 minutes of searching, he hit pay dirt.   
“It's a cryptogram? What the hell is that? Of course it would be something I never heard of.” He muttered, reading down the web page quickly.   
“Hmmm, I wonder if this solver will give me the solution...” He tapped on the linked, only to be greeted with a pop up congratulating him on winning a contest. Joey groaned, clicking off the we bpage to try again, and was immediately rewarded for his hard work. The website decoded the message, only to leave him even more confused than before.   
"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it? Michelangelo? They're sending quotes from ninja turtles now?”   
“I can't believe how dense you are mutt. Didn't you learn anything from world history class.?” Joey froze, head snapping up to look into the eyes of the one person he never wanted to see again, and he couldn't stop the growl that came from his lips. “Kaiba.” 

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Yugi stood in the front yard of Tea's house, attempting to call Joey. Every time he got the answering machine, he hung up and redialed, desperate to contact his best friend. Yami stood by him, unsure of what he could possible say to the younger boy to help him to calm down. After Joey had taken off, Ryou had told the rest of the group the speculation surrounding the Professor's murder, and even though no one wanted to admit it, they all knew Joey was involved somehow. How deep, they weren't sure, but if Joey wasn't going to tell anyone then they were going to have to figure it out themselves.   
“Yugi, I know you're worried, but please come back inside. We need to say good bye to Tea's parents and get Grandpa home. He shouldn't be out this late he is still recovering.”   
“But Yami, what about Joey? I can't just let him wander the streets alone like this.”   
“Joey will be fine, he just needs some time to himself. Meanwhile, I'm concerned about you Aibou. You need to calm down a little, you spend so much time worrying about everyone else that you're not taking care of yourself.”   
“I know Yami, I'm just really worried about everyone. First the earthquake, then you guys come back from the dead, then Mai disappears, then this body of some guy who might be connected but we aren't really sure what he is about is found. It's too much, what if something happens to Joey? Or you or me? We don't even know who is doing this how can we stop it???”   
Yami closed his eyes, not sure of what to say to his partner. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he thought through a dozen responses before realizing the best one was to say nothing at all. Instead, he knew the best way to comfort Yugi was to just give him support.  
Yami wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulder, allowing himself to take a small sniff of his light's hair. Turning the boy towards the house, Yami managed to steer him back inside, grasping Yugi's hand tightly. The shorter boy sighed, glancing back down at his phone as he silently worried about where Joey could possibly be.   
As they entered the house, Yugi walked over to the couch were Tea and Ryou were sitting, informing the two that Joey was still missing. Yami didn't miss a beat. As soon as Yugi was occupied with talking with his friends, he motioned for Bakura and Marik to meet him in another room as soon as they could slip away. Once they were alone, Yami quietly shut the door before facing the two other spirits, who were sitting on Tea's bed with giant grins on their faces.   
“Before you two think this is something dirty, let me reassure you that the reason I asked you to come here was because I need some help figuring out this Joey situation.” Marik pouted, leaning forward and running his fingers through his hair.   
“I'm so tired of worrying about Joey and Mai, can't we talk about something else? Like how Malik and Ryou won't come near us? Or how you refuse to have any playtime but Yugi see you as just his friend?” Yami glared at Marik, being careful not to give in to his egging on.   
“Somebody is after our lights and their friends, and it is our job to protect them. You two did a lousy job of that in the past, but now is the time to redeem yourselves and maybe give Ryou and Malik a reason to give you a chance. What do you guys say?”  
Bakura and Marik looked at each other, before looking at Yami and nodding.   
“Ok, so here's the plan..” Yami started, quickly outlining what he wanted to do while Bakura and Marik half-heartedly listened.

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A/N: this has been sitting on my computer for two weeks I just haven't had the energy to post it... Now is the time when I warn you guys I pick up a second job during the summer helping out at a local farm... so if you guys don't here from me don't panic, I might not be around for the next few months if the weathers good, or if I do update it might be shorter chapters just so you guys get something.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Well after all that it rained, and I got stuck inside. Luckily it gave me time to work on this chapter, and I even got half the next one done too! Because I'm so scattered brained, I keep forgetting to thank those who have reviewed before.   
First bravelove- I know sometimes the spacing gets a little weird, my word program is through IBM and I'm having trouble getting it to convert right, and as for my phrasing I spent a lot of time in different parts of the country and I picked up all kinds of weird wordings from it!  
Second Waves- thank you and hopefully i'll get out there soon!  
And to everyone who has left kudos-thank you!!

One of the perks of being the CEO of a huge company was the views. Kaiba Corp was in the middle of Domino, and the executive suite rose above every other building in the city, allowing anyone who entered a chance to look out over the entire city. The view never failed to impress those who entered for the first time, and Kaiba took pleasure in the awed looks people would give him.   
He knew he was an impressive sight also, tall and lean with classically handsome features and deep blue eyes that made females-and males- swoon. Of course, those who lusted after him and his money were of no use to the CEO, and sometimes he felt disgusted at how pathetic people truly were. However, right now there was only one person on his mind- Yami.   
The former pharaoh had been back for a week already, and still Kaiba had been unable to go see him. Not that he was in the habit of hanging out with the geek squad, but he was desperate to see the other duelist again. Months of sleepless nights were catching up to him, and when he did manage to close his eyes, he could only hear Yami's voice, calm and confident as he continually beat Kaiba in every duel they faced off in. In fact, the only time that voice lost its confidence was the time Kaiba had threatened to fall of a building in order to win.   
That was necessary of course, Mokuba's life had been in danger, and Kaiba would be damned if he allowed an insignificant crush get in the way of protecting Mokuba. He should have known in that instant the look of panic on Yami's face didn't belong to his rival, but to his weaker half Yugi. That should have been his hint that there really was two separate people living in one body, and that all of this magic artifact and Ancient Egypt talk was real, but Kaiba had denied it to himself for years after the fact.   
Right up until the day he was in Egypt, fighting against Zorc to save a whole bunch of people he didn't care about, and one man with crimson eyes that he did. Kaiba shook his head, attempting to rid himself of these thoughts as he continued to stare at the screen in front of him.   
Deleting a handful of none important emails, he made a mental note to send out a memo banning chain emails from Kaiba Corp addresses. They were a waste of time, and time was money, something Kaiba Corp had been bleeding lately. After DOMA, people were starting to doubt how safe the technology from Kaiba Corp truly was, and with that pink-haired freak hacking into his system, Kaiba Corp stock had tanked for weeks after. Kaiba had put in countless hours to fix things, and had worked himself into exhaustion.   
There was really nothing else to do- After Yami had left, Kaiba's passion for dueling had disappeared altogether. So he worked, putting together a plan for a new system, as well as new ways to enhance what was currently on the market.   
That's when Mokuba had bounced in, suggesting something even better- a one-day tournament/fund-raiser. He had carefully outlined his plans to his big brother, rightly telling him that the best way to help Kaiba Corp was to start a charity event. People loved companies that gave back, and it would be a morale booster to show that the company was still confident in itself and its product.   
Kaiba had agreed, smiling at the excitement shining from his little brothers eyes. In truth, the fund-raiser had helped save the company- stocks shot back up, and people began buying duel disks and upgrades with gusto.   
Still, Kaiba knew how quickly it could all change back, and he wanted to control the cash flow as much as possible. He sighed, rubbing his eyes and yawning, admitting to himself that he needed to go home and sleep.   
There were too many reports to get done, and Kaiba knew he was in for another long night. He closed his lap top, picking it up and shoving it into his briefcase. He would make it home before Mokuba went to bed tonight. The younger Kaiba had been left to his devices for too long, and Kaiba was determined to make some time for his brother.   
Snapping the briefcase close, he strolled out of the office, turning off the lights and locking the doors. He was the only one left in the top office, and a quick glance at his watch showed it was almost 8pm.   
Frowning, Kaiba hurried to the elevator, knowing that his brother wasn't going to bed for another few hours, but that he wanted to spend some time with the squirt. Coming out through the lobby, he made to call his driver when a flash of blonde caught his eyes, and Kaiba saw Joey entering the park across the street.   
Kaiba's temper flared as he watched the blonde duellist, remembering the casual oh by the way, I beat the Pharaoh he had thrown out during their last fight. Without even thinking, Kaiba lowered the phone and followed Joey into the park, intent on making the blonde suffer.   
He watched Joey for a few minutes, the blonde pushing random buttons on his smart phone as he tried to read a piece of paper. Kaiba rolled his eyes as he watched Joey struggle. “Stupid mutt can't even use a phone. How is it that he has beaten anybody at anything?” A yelp of joy interrupted his thoughts, and he watched as Joey read what was on the screen in confusion. Kaiba decided to approach him, his body already tensing for a good old fashion fight with the blonde.   
“I can't believe how dense you are mutt. Didn't you learn anything from world history?” Joey turned around, knowing there was only one person in the world who could say that name with so much disgust.   
“Kaiba. What are you doing here?” He snarled. The brunet raised an eyebrow as he pointed behind him.   
“I was just leaving work when I smelled wet dog. I didn't even have to look to see it was you.” “What the hell is your problem Kaiba? Can't you see I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now?”  
“Well if you didn't want to deal with me, you picked the wrong part of town to hang out in. Or can a mutt like you not read and see you are right next to the Kaiba Corp building? It's the biggest one in town I would think even you couldn't miss it.” A fist flew out before Kaiba could even blink, and Joey managed to hit the taller man right on the cheek.   
Kaiba blinked holding up a shaking hand as he gingerly touched his bruised skin. A grin spread over the CEO's features, and he grabbed Joey by the coat, pulling the shorter man up until the two were face to face.   
“What exactly do you think you've accomplished here mutt?” 

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Yugi walked into the game shop begin Yami and his grandpa, his ear still glued to his phone. Joey wasn't picking up, and Yugi was beginning to panic. Yami shot a look at Grandpa before turning and giving Yugi a gentle hug.   
“He will show up Yugi. Joey may not be the smartest person, but he is resourceful, and he would never do anything intentionally to make you worry, you know that.” Yugi smiled a his other half, but he refused to put the phone down.   
“It keeps going to voicemail, and he has no voicemail box set up. How am I suppose to tell him that we want to help him if he won't answer me or call me back?” Yami sighed, directing his light over to the couch and putting the smaller boy firmly in his lap. Grandpa left the room, intending on giving the two boys a few minutes to work everything out.   
Yami rubbed Yugi's back, gently massaging the tension knots out as Yugi continually dialed his phone. Finally, Yami had enough. He grabbed the phone out of Yugi's hand and ended his call, tossing it on the couch next to them.   
“Yami!” What are you doing i'm trying to get Joey to answer!”   
“Aibou, you have called Joey a hundred times. Literally, his phone is probably dead from exhaustion. He obviously does not wish to talk to you right now. Give him a chance to cool down and figure out what his next move is, and he will call you I promise.” Yugi pouted, not wanting to admit that Yami was right. He couldn't help it- Joey was his best friend, and even   
though their friendship had had a rocky start, Joey had proven himself time and time again, taking care of Yugi when there was no one else around, even putting his own life on the line for his friends. Yugi eyed his phone on the couch, wondering if he could grab it and free himself before Yami could react.   
“You even think about touching that phone and I will send it to the Shadow Realm.” Yami told him sternly, and Yugi stopped, sighing to himself as he contemplated what his next move would be. He shifted around on Yami's lap, suddenly realizing where he was.   
His face heated up as he felt something poking his back, and he immediately realized what it was Yami was annoyed at. Taking deep breaths, he slowly turned in Yami's lap to come face-to-face with the former monarch. Yami's eyes searched his, looking for the answer to a question that Yugi wasn't so sure of anymore.   
Sure, he had feelings for Yami, that was evident. But where they actually romantic feelings, or just there because they had once shared a soul? When Yami had first left, Yugi was sure that he had been in love with his other, and the lost of the Pharaoh had destroyed him emotionally. The months they had been apart had caused Yugi to suffer severe depression, and he wasn't sure if Yami was worth getting hurt again. When Yami had kissed him in Egypt, Yugi realized that their relationship was never going to be the same as it was before. The closeness they have developed during their many times of saving the world had vanished, replaced instead by a slight hesitation on Yugi's part to get to close, afraid the Pharaoh would just disappear again and he would be alone.   
Yami seemed to sense his hesitation, and he leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes and sighing gently. Yugi lowered his eyes, slowly sliding off Yami's lap and sitting next to him on the couch. Yami buried his face in his hands, hiding the few tears that were leaking out of his eyes from Yugi.   
“Jeez Pharaoh, can't you avoid harassing that poor boy for 5 minutes?” Marik asked, waltzing into the living room with Bakura on his heels, winking at the two boys before plopping on the couch, sliding close to Yami so Bakura could sit with them.   
“How did you guys get in here?” Yugi questioned, warily eyeing the 3 darker halves.   
“We just came over to see if Joey showed up yet.” Marik stated smoothly, fiddling with a bracelet on his wrist.   
“Yea, Malik and Ryou won't speak to us, so we decided to come over here and see you instead!!” Yami rolled his eyes, praying to the heavens that they would stop and go home.   
After returning from Egypt, Ryou had taken Malik, Marik, and Bakura back to his home, mostly because the Game Shop was too small for all of the teenagers to live in. This arrangement worked fine for Yami, he didn't want to spend a lot of time with Marik and Bakura if he could help it and get caught doing something to hurt Yugi. Glancing at the smaller boy, he noted Yugi's confused look and patted the boy on the knee assuredly.   
“Joey's still out, why don't you guys go home and we will call you when he shows up?”   
“I've got a better idea! How about if Bakura and I sleep over and we can stay up all night and paint each others nails and gossip?” Marik suggested, leaning over Yami to smile at Yugi.   
“Gossip about what exactly?” Yugi asked, blinking at Marik's wide grin.   
“Anything you want Yugi, i'm sure you have tons of questions about what happened while we were in the after life, and you can catch us up on what has been happening here.”   
Yugi thought about Marik's comment before sighing. “Actually, I was wondering about...”  
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Joey flinched as he stared Kaiba right in the face. The CEO's blue eyes were ice cold, not a hint of emotion shown on his face. His right hand was in an iron grip on Joey's shirt, and Joey was having a hard time breathing.   
“Let go of me Kaiba.” He managed to spit out, and Kaiba immediately dropped him on the ground.   
“You should learn to speak to your betters with more respect Wheeler. I guess you need to go to obedience school, too bad I don't think you're worth the money.” Kaiba turned to leave, and Joey snapped. He lunged out at Kaiba, tackling the taller boy to the ground as his fists swung at anywhere he could hit.   
“Why did you let her leave! This is all you fault you worthless moneybags. I wish I never met you!” With that, Kaiba pushed Joey off him, pinning the blonde on the ground.   
“What are you talking about mutt?”   
“Mai! Why didn't you stop her from leaving? Why couldn't your goons stop her from getting kid-napped? It's not her fault that she got involved in all of this, and now she's missing and I can't help her by myself.” Kaiba got off of Joey quickly, pulling up the blonde duelist with him. “I didn't make her leave Wheeler. She decided too all on her own.” Kaiba coldly informed him, glaring at Joey with his arms crossed over his chest. Joey shook Kaiba's hand off his arm, swinging yet again at the brunet.   
Before Kaiba could even react, Roland appeared next to him, tackling Joey to the ground, bouncing the blonde's head off the concrete as he fell. Kaiba sighed as he saw the blonde hit the ground, knowing that he was going to hear about this from Yugi later.   
“That's enough Roland, let the mutt up.” Joey slowly got up, rubbing his head trying to get rid of the pain he was in. Roland stood next to Kaiba, body tense as he made sure his boss was not going to get attacked again.   
“Sir, you need to get those cuts attended too, let me get you home.” Kaiba turned with Roland, and started to walk away from Joey. The blonde was about to start yelling after the CEO when a pair of hands grabbed him, slinging him over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Joey blinked, only to panic as he realized that Fuguta, Kaiba's other body guard was carrying him.   
“Director Kaiba's instructions are to take you with us, he wants your head looked at before he takes you back home.”   
“I won't go anywhere with that obnoxious jerk. Put me down I'll be fine!!” Joey snarled, trying to strike out at the bodyguard. Fuguta ignored Joey's yelling, dumping him into the back seat of the limo next to Kaiba before crawling in himself.   
“If you quit your yapping mutt i'll help you with whatever that note is about.” Kaiba muttered, causing Joey to flinch. Fuguta folded his arms and watched the two teens carefully, ready to intercede if need be.   
“For someone who runs an empire, Director Kaiba sure doesn't act like it whenever he is around this Joey fellow. I feel like I'm watching a couple of children fight.” Roland started the limo, smoothly pulling into traffic heading towards Kaiba's private doctors office.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Yugi's eyes slowly cracked open, and he stretched, smacking Yami in the head. The taller boy stirred, smiling sleepily at Yugi before stretching himself. Bakura and Marik were snuggled together on the floor, both snoring their heads off. Yami rolled his eyes at the pair, before looking back down at Yugi who was laying in his lap.   
Yugi wrinkled his nose, trying to remember why they were sleeping on the couch. All of the sudden his eyes got wide  
“Joey!”   
He shouted, jumping off the couch to go search for the blonde duelists. Yami sat still, listening to his light walking through the house looking for his friend. Yugi reappeared, looking worried.   
“Yami! Joey's not here! What if something happened to him?” Yami frowned, worried about his friend as well.   
“Why don't you try texting everyone? Maybe Joey showed up and forgot his key and he went somewhere else?” Yami suggested, trying to keep Yugi from panicking.   
“Good idea Yami. Help me find my phone.” With that Yugi started to tear apart the room, looking for the phone he had misplaced the night before. A pillow came out of no where and hit Yugi in the back of the head. When he turned around, Bakura and Marik were both glaring from the floor.   
“Do you mind? Some of us are trying to sleep here!!” Yami growled at the pair, handing Yugi his own phone before jumping on them. Yugi ignored the screaming and fake crying as he quickly texted the rest of the group, hoping someone had seen Joey somewhere.

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Mokuba was watching a few cartoons when his phone went off. Surprised, he looked down at the phone to see that Yugi had sent out a mass text looking for Joey. Mokuba frowned, wondering where the blonde could be.  
He quickly responded, telling the rest of the gang he would attempt to track Joey's phone down for them. Jumping off the couch, Mokuba quickly ran up to his room, looking for his lap top. Only his lap top wasn't there, as he remembered after a minute. Seto had taken it away from him after his last report card, and Mokuba had yet to earn it back. Mokuba frowned, pondering his next move.   
He could call Seto and ask him to look for Joey, but that always had the risk of his brother going off on a rant and refusing. That left the option of breaking into Seto's room to find his lap top to use it.   
Mokuba snuck down the hallway, pausing to make sure Seto wasn't in there. He cracked open the door, noting no movement and opening it gently, stepping into the room. A quick glance at the bed showed that Seto was in fact still sleeping, something that worried Mokuba but he wanted to complete his mission first.   
Getting down on his hands and knees he crawled around to the far side of the bed, knowing his lap top was somewhere in that vicinity. Peering in the small space between bed and floor, he found his prize, gently pulling it out. Hugging the machine to his chest, he made to dash out the door only to stop in his tracks.   
There in front of him was Joey, sleeping, nestled comfortably in the arms of Mokuba's brother.  
A/N: Thank you again for ready, and please leave a review!!


	14. Flashback

A/N: I got a couple hours off this week, so I wanted to post something for you guys! This ones a bit shorter, and the next few chapters will probably be also but I'd rather post something than nothing. Thanks for reading everyone and enjoy your weekend!!

Mokuba stared at the sight in front of him, shocked into silence. His jaw worked up and down, his mind trying to comprehend the view in front of him. Once he was able to feel his legs again, Mokuba backed away from the bed, walking quietly to the door and disappearing from the room, closing the door quietly behind him. 

He immediately ran to his room, intent on calling Yugi and telling him not to worry about Joey for awhile. As the bedroom door shut, blue eyes cracked open, and Kaiba blinked as blonde hair blocked his vision. As sleep began to leave him, he realized who was in his bed.   
“Wheeler.” Kaiba snapped, hitting the blonde who started snoring in response.   
“Mutt. I do not have time for this. Get up.” Joey rolled over, throwing his leg over Kaiba's in response.   
“5 more minutes Mai, Yugi won't mind if we are late.” He mumbled, causing Kaiba's eyes to narrow slightly. He kicked out, hitting Joey right in between the legs and causing the younger duelist to fall out of bed. Joey spazzed in pain on the floor, cursing a storm as his body throbbed.   
“What the hell was that about?” He yelled, freezing as he realized the face above his was not Mai's at all.   
“Oh crap where the hell am I?” “You're in my bedroom mutt. Now get up and show some respect to your master.” Joey's eyes narrowed, and he slowly got up off the floor, ignored Kaiba's smirking face.   
“Why am I here Kaiba? All I remember last night was getting into a fight with you and going in the limo.” Kaiba stared at the other man, cursing under his breath.   
“You don't remember anything from last night?” Joey shook his head, looking more and more like the dopey mutt that Kaiba always called him. 

Joey sat across from Kaiba, staring out the window. He tried to ignore the other duelist as much as possible, instead concentrating on not passing out. His head was slowly bleeding from his wounds, but the aching there was nothing compare to his heart. How was he suppose to find Mai if he couldn't figure out a simple clue?   
“Did puppy lose their master? Don't worry i'll take you back to the pound once youre all fixed up.” Kaiba smiled, knowing that his words would antaginoze the blonde into yelling at him some more.   
“Shut up moneybags. I have enough going on in my life without worrying about you.” Joey snarled, getting ready to lunge at the brunet, only being stopped by his bodyguards glare. Joey pouted, leaning back on the seats and crossing his arms. Kaiba watched him , cold indifference a mask on his face.   
His bodyguard in turn watched the CEO carefully, waiting for the young man to tell him to dump that blonde somewhere. Finally the limo stopped, and Fuguta slid out, holding the door open for his boss. Joey warily stared at the door before climbing out himself, having to learn slightly into Fugutas arms when the world spun around him. Kaiba didn't wait for the blond to recover, instead, he marched away, expecting everyone to follow him.   
Joey did, touching the side of his head trying to stop the bleeding. He paused when he realized that they had arrived at a private residence, and he looked sideways at the two bodyguards who were separating him from the brunet.   
“This is the home of the Kaiba's personal physician... since he's on the way, we thought it would be better to come here first.” Roland informed him, escorting the duelist inside and into one of the rooms. A tall red head was already in there, white coat on and stereoscope around his next.   
Roland nodded briefly to the other male, before leaving Joey in the room with him. Kaiba was standing out the door, arms crossed and fingers tapping. 20 minutes later the doctor came out, pulling off a pair of gloves and tossing them in a garbage can.   
“He didn't need stitches the cuts were just scrapes. However, he has a mild concussion. I have him lying down for a little bit, and if he doesn't show any additional symptoms he can go home. He'll have to have someone monitor him tonight for a few hours just in case, but he will make a full recovery.” Roland nodded, slightly relieved. He stood at the ready, waiting for orders from his boss. Kaiba scowled, unhappy with the time they were wasting.   
“The mutts got 20 minutes.” He informed Roland, then plopped down on the chair to wait. The bodyguard nodded, checking his watch so he could keep track of the time. Kaiba pulled out his lap top, going through his back logged emails while Roland watched him. Once the allotted time had passed, the older man disappeared into the next room, returning with a slightly zonked out looking Joey. The blond was quiet, rubbing his head gently while he stared at his shoes.   
The doctor handed Joey a piece of paper as well as some pain killers, and nodded to Kaiba. The brunet stood up, not even acknowledging Joey as he headed back to the limo, Joey, Roland and Fuguta following close behind. He opened the door, indicating that Joey should get in first. The other two were instructed to ride up front, and Kaiba climbed in shutting the door behind him.   
The two teens were once again sitting across from each other, but this time their was no one to keep them separate. Kaiba stared at Joey, eyebrow raised as the blond shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Joey refused to speak, avoiding eye contact as he counted the seconds before they got back to Yugi's. Kaiba sighed to himself, opening up his lap top yet again.   
“I'm bringing you to the mansion. I need to keep you safe for now.” Joey blinked at him, not understanding what he was talking about. Kaiba turned his lap top towards Joey, pointing towards something on the screen.   
“I received this email about an hour ago from an address I don't know. It had a message on it, along with some pictures of Mai. They told me I had to help you, or she would be killed and they would dump Mai's body on the steps of Kaiba Corp.” Joey paled, sinking down in the seat as if he wanted to melt into it. Kaiba rolled his eyes, shutting the lid to his lap top. “Just try not to shed.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yugi tapped his phone, checking for the millionth time to see if anyone had responded to his message. Yami was still fighting with Bakura and Marik in the other room, but Yugi had refused to join them. He wasn't going to move until he knew where Joey was and that he was safe, and time was of the essence. If anything happened to his best friend, Yugi didn't know what he would do. A ping caused him to jump, and he looked at the message on his phone, shocked as he read Mokuba's message.   
“Joey's in bed with Kaiba!” He yelled, causing the three darks to stop fighting and run into the room. The all stared at the short duelist who was furiously texting Mokuba back, demanding that Joey called him as soon as possible.   
Marik started to snicker, followed by Bakura. Yami shot them both a look, which only started their laughing even more.   
“Never would have pictured Joey being bi-curious. Maybe we should go pay him a little visit ourselves?” Marik suggested, winking at Bakura suggestively. Yugi narrowed his eyes at the two, shaking his head violently.   
“It's not like that guys, something must have happened to him last night I need to find out what's going on with him.” Bakura and Marik continued to laugh, passing jokes back and forth while Yami threatened them. Solomon chose this moment to come downstairs, blinking at the crowd in his house.   
“Where do these kids keep coming from?” He muttered, continuing on to the kitchen.   
“Will you two knock it off! Yugi is already upset and you are just making it worse!” Yami told the them, giving them his best former Pharaoh glare. When that didn't work, he grabbed both of them by the ear and dragged them into the kitchen, wanting to let Grandpa know Joey wasn't there for breakfast. Yugi ignored them leaving, tapping his phone as he waited for the call. When it finally came, the sound of his best friends voice made him want to cry. Yami came back in halfway through the call, waiting patiently for Yugi to finish. Once Yugi finally got off, Yami gave him a hug, hoping that the smaller boy would accept it.   
“Joey is at Kaiba's. They got into a fight, and Joey got a concussion and ended up staying over because something happened when they went to the doctor.”   
“Is he alright? Do we need to go get him?”   
“No. Joey is going to stay over there for a few days. I guess Kaiba is going to help him try to track Mai down.” Yami blinked in surprise, not sure what to say.   
“Well, I guess we have to let him do what he think is best. Now, Grandpa is going to make some breakfast, how about we join him?” Yugi agreed, and Yami leaned down to plant a gentle kiss on his lights lips before taking his hand and leading him into the kitchen.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: You don't realize how much spare time you really have until you start working two jobs. I think I do more writing now than I did when I only worked one! Another short one, but I'm trying not to go too long between updates. Enjoy!

Joey stared at Kaiba as he hung up with Yugi. Uncomfortable with the thought that he had been in bed with the other duelist, Joey stared at his hands, fidgeting with the phone. Kaiba slid out of bed, ignoring the blonde as he walked into the bathroom. As soon as the door closed, Joey bolted out of the room, only to run straight into Mokuba. Joey glared at the smaller boy, who was standing there grinning like an idiot.   
“Hey Joey! Did you have a good nights sleep?” Mokuba snickered, watching as Joey's face got redder and redder.   
“Dude, your brother's body guard gave me a concussion the least he could do was make sure I didn't die in the middle of the night!” Joey pouted, causing Mokuba to look at him curiously.   
“What do you mean you got a concussion. What did my big brother do to you?” Joey hesitated, gently touching his scraped scalp.   
“You know how your brother is, all talk but lets someone else take care of the action.” Mokuba frowned, knowing there was more to the story than Joey was bothering to tell him.   
“How about I take you to the kitchen Joey, I'm sure you're starving.” Joey perked up at this comment, the though of food making his stomach growl.   
“How bout I make us all some breakfast? You like omelette's Mokuba?” Mokuba nodded, turning to lead the blonde into the other room. Settling on a stool, Mokuba watched Joey work, pretending he didn't notice the arrival of his big brother a few moments latter.   
Kaiba sat down next to his brother, picking up a newspaper an attempting to ignore the other two who were throwing glances at him. Joey turned his attention to the stove, fliping over Mokuba's omelette one more time before quickly plating it up and throwing toast and bacon on the side. Grabbing a glass of orange juice, he walked over to Mokuba, placing the plate and glass in front of him.   
“Could I interest you in some breakfast Kaiba?”   
“Hm.” Was the only response he got, and Mokuba rolled his eyes.   
“Big brother doesn't believe in having breakfast. All he does is drink a bunch of coffee and then head into the office.”   
“Well that's not any good. No wonder you need bodyguard's Kaiba you gotta eat to have enough energy to protect yourself! Don't worry, Joey Wheeler will take care of yea!” Joey turned back to the stove, missing the eye rolling from the elder Kaiba and the glare he received from his younger brother.   
“This omelette is really good Joey, I didn't know you knew how to cook!” Mokuba exclaimed, hoping to break at least some of the tension that was in the room.   
“My dad isn't much of a cook, so I had to learn. I've been cooking for Yugi and his Grandpa while I'm living with them too. Grandpa has some diet restrictions, so I had to learn some new recipes to keep him healthy.” Mokuba nodded, smiling as he kept on eating.   
“Seto you're missing out! Why don't you try a bite of mine and see if you want one.” Kaiba stared at his brother, sighing as he opened his mouth to try his brother's breakfast. Mokuba watched carefully, while his brother chewed and swallowed.   
“Make him an omelette Joey he likes it!!” Mokuba cheered, while Joey nodded.   
“Already got it covered Mokuba one Joey special coming up!” Kaiba sighed, knowing he was getting out played by his little brother.   
“Mokuba, I need you to go into the other room the mutt and I need to talk about some things.” Mokuba nodded, picking up his plate as he left the room. Kaiba watched him leave, making sure his brother wasn't spying right outside the door before he turned back to Joey.   
“Wheeler. Yugi told me that they found Smith's body yesterday. I'm assuming that the blonde kid that was seen hanging around the dumpster was in fact you?” Joey didn't respond, instead concentrating on finishing Kaiba's breakfast. Kaiba took this as a yes, looking back down at the screen.   
“My sources tell me that they found some fingerprints on the dumpster. I just hope that aren't yours.”   
“You don't have to worry about that, I learned how to wipe prints and make sure I don't leave any evidence behind. I was in a gang remember.” Joey stated, plating Kaiba's breakfast and placing it in front of him. Grabbing his own plate, Joey sat down next to Kaiba and started eating, waiting for the other boy to continue.   
Kaiba got up, leaving the room. Joey listened as he walked away, wondering what was going on. A few minutes later he returned, carrying his briefcase and placing it on the counter. Opening it, he pulled out a manilla envelope and reached inside. Joey's eyes grew wide when Kaiba pulled out a lock of hair soaked in blood. There was just enough left untouched to see the blond color, and Joey was sure it was Mai's.. He paled, falling off the stool and landing hard on the floor.   
“I found this on the steps when we got home last night. You see, I brought you here because of your injuries, and when Roland was carrying you inside we found this. I had Roland take a sample to check the DNA to see if it is really Mai or not. In the meantime, I want you to look at this.” Kaiba turned his lap top towards Joey, typing something on it.   
“I found that piece of paper in your pocket last night with the Michaelangelo quote on it, and I did some digging. There is an exhibit of famous paintings right now at the Domino Museum, and there is several by different Renaissance Artists including Michaelangelo. Perhaps that is the next clue in this journey of finding Mai?” Joey's face lit up, hopeful. Kaiba nodded, taking a bite of his omelette as he plotted their next move.   
“I think a trip to the museum is in order. Why don't you call your friends and have them met us there?”” Joey stared at Kaiba, surprised at his sudden willingness to help them. Kaiba ignored him, picking up his plate and placing it into the dishwasher. Glancing at his watch, he silently calculated how long he had to waste on this adventure.   
“Tell your friends to be at the Game Shop in an hour, I'll send a car to pick up whoever is there.” Joey nodded, still looking warily at Kaiba as he picked up his phone to text everyone. 

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Just over an hour later, a group was forming in front of the Domino Museum. Kaiba had drove his brother and Joey, and Roland had gone to the Game Shop to pick up Yugi and the three darks, as well as Grandpa, Tristan and Duke. Ryou had brought Malik, and had picked up Tea. Before entering, Kaiba told the group to split up and look for clues that could help them find Mai.   
The group agreed, quickly entering the Museum and taking off into different directions. Ryou grabbed Grandpa, asking the other man to join him in finding his father. Grandpa agreed, and the two made their way towards the back of the Museum, heading for the offices. Ryou knocked on his father's door, relieved that he was in his office.   
“Hello father.” Ryou bowed to the other man who placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder.   
“Ryou. What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you my boy. Solomon! It's good to see you as  
well it's been far to long.” Solomon bowed as well, with Ryou's father returning the gesture. “I wanted to see how you were doing, I know you were good friends with the man who was killed yesterday and I was concerned about you father.” Ryou bowed again, surprised as his father gave him a small hug.   
“You're concern is touching my son but I am fine. I just hope they catch whoever is behind all of this quickly.” Solomon nodded, glancing around the office.   
“I hope you don't mind my intrusion Alex, but I understand that you have a renaissance exhibit going on right now? Do you mind me asking a few questions about it”   
“That's correct Solomon, but what's your interest in that? I thought you studied Egyptology? Why are are asking about a few paintings that have no mystery behind them?” Solomon hesitated, looking over at Ryou.   
“I'm more interested in when you received them. I received a note in the mail the other day from John, and I think there might be a clue as to who killed him somewhere here in the museum.” Alex took at step back, looking from his son to his friend several times to gauge their seriousness.   
“That's ludicrious! Why would someone hide a reason for killing one museum curator in another museum?” He looked at his son, shaking his head.   
“How do you manage to get yourself into these ridiculous situations my boy? What is wrong with you!” Ryou sunk into a chair, avoiding eye contact with his father and Grandpa. Alex sighed, shaking his head at the two.   
“What can I help you find?”   
“We are not quite sure, I was hoping you remembered something strange that could have happened while you were unloading for this exhibit.” Alex frowned, thinking back over the last few weeks.   
“There was no problems with anything that I know of. No weird issues with anything...” His voice trailed off, thinking hard.   
“Actually, there was an issue last week with one of the security cameras. It lost power for about 5 minutes while the museum was open, we had to reboot the whole system to fix it.” “Where was the camera located at father?” Alex walked over to a filing cabinet, pulling out a file and staring at it.   
“Its in the wing of the next exhibit, it watches over several of the Michaelangelo paintings...” He was cut off with a sudden gasp as Grandpa and Ryou stared at each other.   
“Please father, take us right now!” Alex nodded, leading his guest out the door. 

 

The three men made their way over to the exhibit, picking up Yugi, Yami and Tea on the way. Tea grabbed her boyfriends hand, noting his paling face and slight tremor.   
The group finally made it, looking over the paintings in front of them. Alex pointed at the camera in question, wordlessly drawing a straight line with his finger to the paintings it was pointed towards. The group walked forward, Yami reaching for the painting when he was stopped.  
“If you touch that painting, all the alarms in the museum will go off. Let me turn off the alarm and get someone to help us.” Alex walked away, coming back a minute later with another worker. The two men grabbed the picture, gently pulling it away from the wall. Alex peered around the back, surprised to see something taped to the picture.   
“Solomon, there is some sort of paper taped back here, can you grab it.” Solomon agreed, stepping forward and grabbing what turned out to be an envelope. Turning the envelope around, he noticed the name 'Joseph Wheeler' printed on the front.   
“This is a message for Joey... I guess we need to go find him.” “Joey's with Mokuba looking through the dino exhibit! Let's go find him!” Grandpa handed the envelope to his grandson, smiling at the boys.   
“I'm going to help Alex put this painting back up, you kids go and find Joey and I'll catch up when we are done.” Yugi nodded, accepting the envelope and nodding to his friends, as they all took off towards Joey to give him the message.   
“Joey!” Yugi yelled a few minutes later, waving the envelope as he approached his best friend. Joey jumped in surprise, looking down at the white paper as it was thrusted in his hands. Joey noticed his name written on the top, and he couldn't help but start sweating. He opened it slowly, pulling out a piece of paper.   
'Joseph' it started. 'Since you couldn't follow the rules as stated, you now face the consequences. PENALTY GAME!'   
Joey blinked, looking at the note in surprise.   
“What the heck is a penalty g-” He stated just as the lights in the museum went off.


	16. Chapter 16

Bursts of screaming were heard throughout the museum as everyone's eyes adjusted to the darkness. Joey cringed, covering his ears until all the noise was down to a low whimper. Suddenly, the generators kicked on, the emergency lights casting an eerie glow around the building.   
The gang quickly grouped together, doing a head count to make sure everyone was all right. Mokuba had his head buried in his brothers coat, and Kaiba was gently stroking his little brothers hair.   
Yugi, Yami, Tea, and Ryou were all standing next to each other, relieved that the lights had turned back on and everyone was alright. Suddenly Yugi took off, yelling for his Grandpa. Ryou followed him, worried about his father, wondering if the power failure was because someone was trying to steal an artifact from the museum. Tea blinked at her boyfriends sudden departure, turning to tell Joey to stay where he was before she took off him, Yami hot on her heels.   
Joey was about to go with them when his phone rang. Picking it up, he noticed it was Tristan calling him.   
“Hey buddy. Where are you?”   
“Joey? You're still here?”   
“What do you mean I'm still here? Of course I am, I didn't go home and leave you here.”   
“That's not what I meant you numbskull. I can't find Duke, he was right next to me when the lights went off and now I can't find him anywhere. He's not answering his phone either.” Joey's face got paler and paler as he realized what Tristan was saying.   
“You mean he's disappeared?” Just like Mai did? Joey silently thought.  
Kaiba looked sharply at the blonde, a deep frown on his face.   
“Listen buddy, we are over by the dino bones, why don't you come over here and we can regroup. Maybe Duke had to use the little boys room and doesn't want to answer his phone while he's there.”   
Tristan agreed and hung up, leaving Joey frowning at his phone. Joey called Duke, hoping that the dice-master would answer. Instead, the phone rang and rang, causing Joey's heart to pound faster.   
'Please, not another one. I don't want to lose another friend right now. I can barely handle Mai being gone now Duke..'   
“Hello again Joseph.” A voice answered,   
“I was wondering how long it would be before we would talk again.”   
“Father. Why do you have Duke's phone?” Joey snarled, his fingers digging into his palms.   
“Well Joseph, is that anyway to speak to your father. I gave you life, I fed you and clothed you and housed you after your whore of a mother left you behind and this is all the thanks I get.”   
“Yea, you did all that. You also gave me two cracked ribs, a broken arm, a scarred back and burns on my legs. The only reason you kept me around was for a punching bag, and now what? You already took someone who means the world to me, and now you take someone   
else.” The elder Wheeler snorted, amused at his son's anger.   
“He dressed you up like a dog and embarrassed our family name, I thought you would be   
thanking me for getting rid of him for you. I mean, how could you actually like someone who treated you like that.”   
“He was a jerk when we first met, but we got past that and now he's one of my closest friends. He saved Serenity from people who were trying to take her, and he stood by me when I was fighting my duels. He was there when you took Mai. We have gotten past what happened before, and he apologized to me for what he did. Which is more than what I can say about you.”   
Joey spat at his father, his annoyance showing in the tense way he talked. His father laughed   
darkly, happy he was pushing his sons buttons.   
“Well then, I guess I'll thank him for helping you turn into a bigger push over than you already were. You've obviously forgotten all I taught you about standing up for yourself and fighting like a man. I don't have time for this Joseph, good luck finding your friends.”   
A dial tone met Joey's ear, and he frowned at the phone, wondering where his father possible could have gone with Duke. Tristan appeared then, running over to Joey and the Kaiba brothers. Mokuba was still sobbing gently into his brothers coat, but Kaiba was staring at Joey, obviously listening to his conversation and drawing his own conclusions on what had happened.   
Joey frowned at Kaiba, shaking his head slightly at the taller brunet. He then turned to Tristan, and watched as his friends face paled. Tristan knew by the look in Joey's eyes that Duke was gone, and he fell on his knees, palms on the ground as he tried to control the sobs welling up inside him. Joey touched his shoulder and the dam broke, Tristan stared sobbing as he collapsed on the floor.   
Joey stared helplessly at him, his own feelings of loneliness welling up inside him and threatening to spill over. He sank to the floor next to Tristan, burying his own face in his hands. Mokuba broke away from his brother, walking over to the two teens on the floor and sitting in between them. Wiping his own tear soaked face he grabbed both of their hands, squeezing them in hopes of calming the two boys.   
They sat like that for a few minutes,each wallowing in their misery. Kaiba stood by, annoyed that his brother was seeking comfort from someone else. He turned to leave, only to be   
blindsided by a flash of white before he hit the ground hard. A knife at his throat caused Kaiba to freeze, and he cursed himself for not making sure his guards were with them. Suddenly, the weight on his chest was gone, and Kaiba turned his head to see Joey and Tristan had pinned Bakura to the floor.   
The thief was thrashing about, trying to get free while he screamed in another language at Kaiba. Finally he stopped, staring at Kaiba while he allowed Tristan to grab his arms.   
“Tell me where my Hikari is Priest, or I shall kill you and your next of kin.”   
Kaiba stepped in front of Mokuba, remembering how Bakura had kidnapped his brother to con him into going to Egypt.   
“Enough with that Egypt crap Bakura. I am not a Priest, and you are not thousands of years old.” Kaiba told him, planting himself in front of his brother, who was scooting slowly back trying to find a place to hid from the crazy white-haired boy.   
“Ryou went with Yugi to find his father, he wanted to make sure that he was ok.” Joey informed Bakura, noting the wild look in the dark half's eyes. Bakura turned his head, not looking at any of them as he stared towards the hallway, looking for the familiar flash of white hair.   
Suddenly, he saw it, and before anyone could react, Bakura had thrown Tristan off him, pushing Joey aside as he ran to his Hikari. Ripping him from Tea's side, Bakura pushed Ryou up against the wall, kissing him like he was trying to take the very breath from Ryou's lungs. Tea blinked at the two boys, knowing somewhere in her heart that her relationship with the British boy was coming to an end.   
Her train of thought was interrupted when Ryou harshly pushed Bakura back, wiping off his mouth before glaring at his other half.   
“What is your problem Bakura. I told you before I have no interest in seeing or being with you!”   
Bakura paled at Ryou's words, looking around at everyone who was staring at them.   
“I couldn't help it. I felt the Shadows opening, I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”   
Joey blinked at the tone of Bakura's voice, it sounded almost... sad. Like Bakura was truly hurt that Ryou didn't want him. Joey shook his head, trying to clear his head. Yami stepped forward, seperating the two boys with a look.   
“You felt it too Bakura? Right as the lights went off, it felt like there was a presence here.” Yami looked around, checking off their friends one by one, seeing who's missing. Once glance at Tristan's face and he knew Duke was missing, but he couldn't see Marik or Malik anywhere.   
“Where are the other two? Weren't they with you Bakura?”   
Bakura nodded, looking at Ryou.   
“That's why I was searching for you Hikari. When the lights went out, I felt the Shadows reopen. I felt something move next to me, and when the lights came back Marik and Malik were gone.”   
Yami inhaled sharply, looking over to Joey whose face was draining of all color. Yami walked over to him, grabbing the blonde by the shoulders. Joey hung his face, allowing his long hair to drape over his face to hide from the Pharaoh's intense gaze.   
“Joey. What was that note talking about? What kind of game were you playing that you were going to be penalized?”   
The blonde bowed his head, trying to make himself invisible.   
“I ran into my father the day they found that guy's body. He told me he knew who took Mai, and they weren't going to stop taking and killing people if I did not play their game. He told me their was a message on the body and left. When I found the note, it told me that I coudn't share it with anyone.”   
Kaiba's head snapped up, looking intently at the rest of the group. Joey raised his head to meet the ice-blue gaze, then slowly sank back down and continued.   
“When I ran into Kaiba, he saw my note. Obviously the people who took Mai were watching and counted that as me 'cheating' for some reason and they took their revenge by taking Duke.”   
Joey paused again, looking over at Tristan sadly.   
“I tried calling Duke's phone, and my father answered it. He has Duke, and I bet that he has Marik and Malik too.”   
Tristan's face paled, and he jumped Joey, pinning the boy down before attempting to hit him. A strong hand stopped him, pulling him off Joey and pushing him away. Tristan growled in annoyance at Kaiba, re-directing his anger at the billionaire.   
“The mutt is suffering from a concussion. If you punch him in the face you're going to kill him. I suggest you calm down a little bit.”   
Tristan glanced back at Joey, who was laying on the ground holding his head. His anger disappeared and all he felt was weary, and he sank to the ground, reaching for Joey to comfort his friend. The rest of the gang stood there, unsure of what to do. Finally Kaiba's phone rang, and he answered, listening for a brief time before snapping it close.   
“My team is here, they are going to sweep the museum for clues but we need to shut it down.”   
Bakura's father nodded, heading towards the front desk to make an announcement for anyone who had stayed after the power went off. Kaiba turned towards Yugi's Grandpa, eyeing the old man.   
“Do you know where the basement is? We need to figure out how they cut the electric, and how to turn it back on so we can conduct a complete search.”   
Grandpa nodded, running over the museums layout in his mind.   
“Yes, I believe I know where the generators are. I will take whoever you need there.”   
Kaiba nodded to Roland, who had just appeared in the room, indicating that he should follow the older man. Once the two had left, Kaiba turned to the rest of the room.   
“We should leave also, the less people here the better it will be for the search.”   
He turned and looked at Yugi and Ryou before continuing.   
“Your father and grandfather should stay here, they can help aid in the search because they know the museum better than anyone.”   
Both boys nodded, while Tristan stood up in anger.   
“I won't leave until I find my boyfriend Kaiba. You can't make me.”   
Mokuba, who had been quiet since everything had started, finally spoke up.   
“I know you don't trust my brother Tristan, but trust me. There is no one who is better at finding missing people than Seto. He's found me more time than I can count, and once he   
gets on the case there is no force on Earth that will stop him from achieving his goals.”   
Tristan opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it when Yami shot him a look. He looked away, choosing instead to help his best friend get up off the ground. He quickly glanced over Joey, checking him for injuries after their fight.   
Tristan then turned to Kaiba, nodding his head at him. In silence, the group split up, each heading towards their own cars to leave. Since he was leaving Yugi's Grandpa at the museum, Kaiba left his own car, telling Yugi quietly that Roland would bring the older male back to the Game Shop once they were done looking.   
Kaiba, Mokuba, and Joey all got into Tristan's car, makng sure he didn't go back and try to interfere in the searching going on in the museum. Kaiba sat up front, while Joey and Mokuba took the back.   
Joey played on his phone, trying to distract himself from what was going on. Flipping back and forth on the screens, he finally noticed a text message that he had never read. Opening the app, he realized it was from the number his father had called from before. All it said was 'Play by the rules and nobody else will get hurt.'


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Well the good thing about working all these hours is it gave me time to figure out where I want this story to go, and the ending. Problem is, I have no paper on me so by the time I can write it down I forget! Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read and enjoy this story, please enjoy this next installment. 

A few weeks later... The beginning of October

Joey stretched, careful not to hit the boy sleeping next to him in the head. After the kidnapping in the Museum, Mokuba had started suffering from night terrors, remembering his own abductions. After a few days of no sleep, Kaiba had been at his wit's end. Mokuba refused to talk about it, and his brother was just getting worse.   
In a moment of weakness he had mentioned what was going on to Yugi, and a few hours later the blond had shown up at the Mansion, demanding to be let it. He pulled Kaiba into his office, quietly offering his help.   
Mai had night terrors, brought on from her time in the Shadow Realm, as well as her guilt over DOMA. Joey wanted to help, and Kaiba was desperate enough to allow him to. Joey had been staying at the mansion ever since, comforting Mokuba in a way that Kaiba just couldn't. The younger boy still woke up all hours of the night, but he was quickly soothed back to sleep by his friend. Right now, the younger boy was sleeping, curled up in a ball under the blankets.   
Nature was calling, and Joey slipped out of bed, padding down the hallway towards the bathroom. He paused at one door, seeing the glow of a computer screen under the frame. He realized that Kaiba must still be up, working on something. He walked past, entering the bathroom.   
Once he was finished, he walked past Kaiba's door again, seeing that the light was still one he hesitated once again, debating if he should go in and force Kaiba to go to sleep. Making up his mind, he quietly slipped into Mokuba's room, checking on the young boy before steeling his nerves to enter Kaiba's room.   
Knocking quietly, he opened the door, greeted by a pair of shoes being thrown towards his head. Joey ducked, cursing to himself over his stupidity. Kaiba ran towards him, and Joey managed to hit him with a shoulder, flipping the brunet onto his bed.   
“Kaiba, calm down it's just me! I was just checking on you!”   
Kaiba was breathing heavily, staring up at Joey with angry eyes. Joey backed off, pulling Kaiba back up.   
“Sorry, I wasn't thinking. I just saw your light was on and I wanted to try to convince you to go to bed. You know how much Mokuba is worried about you. How about you turned this off for the night. It's already after one, I'm sure whatever you are doing can wait until the morning.”   
Kaiba snorted, grabbing his laptop and turning to ignore Joey. The blond duelist growled, getting tired of Kaiba's constant attitude towards him.   
“What is your problem Kaiba, I am trying to help you and your little brother. You asked me to stay here, and now your treating me like I'm worthless. If you want me to go that's fine, but I'm tired of these little games you keep on playing.”   
Kaiba turned, looking over at Joey wordlessly.   
“What, no come back Kaiba? You always have something to say, don't tell me I finally made the great Seto Kaiba speechless?”   
With that Joey turned towards the door, turning his back towards his rival which proved to be a fatal mistake. He was roughly shoved up against the door, Kaiba's breath up against his neck.   
“How did you do it?”   
He snarled, pressing his body against Joey's.   
“How did you beat him when I couldn't even do it? What's your secret Wheeler?”   
Joey blinked at the door, hoping against hope that something would open it. Kaiba's grip was strong, and he was starting to loose consciousness. Closing his eyes, Joey visualized his situation and thought about his options. Many were out, Kaiba's body was pressed to hard against him to use many of his old gang moves.   
\Teeth grazed his neck, and Joey couldn't help but groan as Kaiba sucked on his neck the same way Mai would to get him in the mood. Thoughts of her made Joey pause, and he finally found the strenght to drive his elbow into Kaiba's face, using the taller's man distractions to gain the upper hand.   
He pushed away from Kaiba, opening the door and fleeing the room, leaving Kaiba staring at the spot he had just been. 

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Croquet walked briskly up the sidewalk to the Game Shop, banging on the door. It was just about 2 in the morning, and all the occupants were still asleep. He would have used his skills to gain access, but Master Pegasus had been explicit with his instructions to not scare anyone.   
He banged again, hearing a noise in the room, and he stepped back to make sure he was clearly seen in the streetlight outside the door. Yami opened the door, rubbing his eyes and blinking in surprise at who was standing outside. He moved aside, granting the older man access to the shop.   
“What are you doing here Croquet? Did Pegasus find out something?”   
“Master Pegasus wishes to speak to you and your friends in person. I am here to assure that everyone gets there safely.”   
Yami opened his mouth, getting ready to demand an answer as to what was going on. Croquet silenced him with a look, quickly moving around the boy to assess the rest of the room.   
“Master Pegasus is not willing to come out here. You must call the rest of your group and follow me out to the island. You are all in danger.”   
Yami groaned to himself, wondering what they had gotten themselves into now.   
“Let me get Yugi and Grandpa up. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.”   
With that Yami disappeared upstairs, leaving Croquet alone in the shop. He occupied himself by looking over the shop carefully, checking for any suspicious holes. He ran his hands over the shelves, feeling for fresh paint or bumps. He swept for bugs, not satisfied that he wasn't finding anything.   
His head snapped up when he heard the door open, and he saw Yugi standing in the doorway, anxiously bouncing from foot to foot. Croquet bowed slightly to the shorter teen, trying to put him at ease.   
“Master Pegasus wishes you to have this.”   
He produced a new phone, handing it over to Yugi.   
“Please hand me your old one, I must dispose of it immediately. I also have one for your Grandfather and Yami. I must have their old ones also. We have been hacked, and we believe that's how they found your friends.”   
Yugi gaped, pulling out his old phone and handing it over without hesitation. Croquet placed the phone in a plastic bag then stomped on it, making sure to snap the SIM card, and picked back up the bag, placing it in his pocket.   
Yugi played with the new phone, noticing that it already had a bunch of numbers in it for his friends as well as most of Pegasus's security team.   
“Master Pegasus has programmed this phone personally, but you can't use it until we have collected all the new ones. When Yami comes back downstairs, he must contact Tristan, Bakura and Tea and have them be ready to be picked up. Now, go pack an overnight bag. We will have you all back home by Sunday Afternoon.”   
Yugi nodded, slowly turning and walking back up the stairs. Croquet looked back down at his phone, frowning at the lack of messages he had received from the Kaiba brothers retrieval team.

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Roland slammed Kemo to the ground, enjoying the feel of the other man underneath him He had been waiting for years to take down the man who had kidnapped his bosses brother and attempted to kill his boss shortly after. Even if he was acting under orders, that didn't hinder Roland's enjoyment of this moment.   
He smiled at the blood seeping out from Kemo's mouth, and he grinded his knee into the other mans back, hearing his scream in pain. Finally he pulled Kemo out, slamming him against the wall, looking him in the eye.   
“What are you doing here?”   
He snarled, pushing him up the wall high enough that his feet barely touched the ground. Kemo stared back, not answering any questions while Roland was trying to choke him. Finally Roland relented, dropping the shorter man back on his feet. Kemo coughed once, his body's natural reflexes taking over his training for a brief second. He immediately straightened up, looking Roland in the eye calmly, waiting for his turn to speak. Roland waved his hand, letting the younger man speak.   
“Master Pegasus has sent me to retrieve your boss. He believes he knows what is going on, and he wants to talk to everyone. He thinks he is next. I will not leave until I have what I came for.”   
Roland snarled, pinning the man down to the floor, his body working on its own as his mind thought over what he had said.   
“If you want my boss, I will deliever him to your Island. I will accompy him to your meeting, and I will make sure he is safe. Any questions?”   
Kemo nodded, knowing this was the only way to get his master's wishes taken care of. Roland allowed him off the floor, and Kemo stood, dusting himself off while reaching into his pocket   
“Take these. The system has been hacked, everyone needs a new phone. All the numbers have been entered in already. No other numbers can dial these phones, and they can't dial any that aren't in it. Meet us on the Island by this afternoon. Croquet is gathering the rest of them, and we will be departing from the airport as soon as we have gathered them.”   
With that Kemo produced a card, handing it over to Roland.   
“This is where we will be waiting. I'm sure Kaiba knows exactly where it is.”   
Kemo turned on his heel and disappeared, leaving Roland staring at the card in his hand.

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Tea giggled in bed as Ryou's hands ran down her sides. He had kicked Bakura and Tristan out of the house for the evening, and Tea was determined to take advantage of it. She kissed him, breaking it off quickly as Ryou started to tickle her. His brown eyes twinkled at her, and she didn't stop him as he slowly undid her top.   
Annoyed at how slow he was going, she pushed him off, pulling off her shirt and taking off her bra, dropping both on the floor. Ryou stared down at her, unsure of what to do next. Even after months of dating, he was still a gentleman and he didn't want to take advantage of her. Tea made up his mind by reaching up and pulling him close, kissing him with all her strength. Ryou kissed her back, using his hands to feel his way down her body towards her jeans.   
Tea groaned in her sleeping, rolling over to snuggle into her boyfriends side. A loud beeping noise made her jump, as her brain tried to place the noise. Another other rang through the quiet room, and she felted blindly for her phone, picking it up off the end table. She looked at the text, her eyes not yet adjusted for the brightness of the screen.   
“Why is Yami texting me at this time of night?”   
She muttered, realizing that it was barely 3 in the morning. She looked over at Ryou, who was starting to stir also.   
“It's Yami. He wants us to call him, he says its an emergency.”   
Ryou blinked at her, his brown eyes staring up at Tea.   
“I wonder if anyone else got a message. You call Yami, I'll go wake Bakura and Tristan.”   
Tea nodded, kissing him gently.   
“Put some shorts on sweetie. You don't want to scare them.”   
Ryou grabbed his boxers off the floor and left the room, heading down the hall. Tea jumped out of bed and quickly threw on some clothes, not wanted the other two boys to see her naked.   
Sometimes she really hated this living arrangement, but it couldn't be helped. After Duke, Marik and Malik went missing, Ryou had paniked that Tea could be next. He had begged her to move into the house, telling her that Bakura would help protect her. Tea had serious doubts that the other boy would lift a finger if something happened to her, but she was nervous enough about disappearing that she was happy for the company.   
Of course, her parents had been less than thrilled, but they couldn't stop her since she was 18. Tristan had moved in also, hoping that his family would not be harmed if he wasn't there with them. The four had come to an uneasy truce with cleaning and housework, and even Bakura seemed to accept having the other two leaving in his home.   
Bakura's father on the other hand had left, heading back to England in hopes of learning more of John Smith's death and seeing if there were any clues about what was going on. Tea shook his head, getting back on task.   
She called Yami, ready to complain to him about texting her so early in the morning. She quickly silenced it when he told her about his late night visitor, and that there was a car coming to pick the four of them up so they better pack a bag.   
Tea hung up, throwing her phone on the bed and staring out the window at the inky blackness outside. Ryou came back then, sitting on the bed next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.   
“What's going on?”   
“We need to go back to Duelist Kingdom. Pegasus requests an audience with all of us.” Ryou sighed, remembering all the bad things that had happened there.   
“Tristan and Bakura are up. What do we need to do?” 

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Joey sat up in bed, too wound up to even attempt sleeping. Instead, he started to run his fingers through Mokuba's hair, hoping to calm the boy who had started whimpering. A look at the clock showed it was after 2, and Joey sighed to himself.   
'At least it's Friday, hopefully the day will go by quickly at school. Maybe I should stay at Yugi's for the weekend, give Kaiba a chance to come to his senses. I don't get what's wrong with him lately. Actually, I don't get what's wrong with me. Why would I agree to stay here under the same roof with him? We barely get along, and I keep putting myself in his path.'   
Joey rubbed his temples, feeling yet another headache coming on. He glanced over at the lump next to him, the kid that, after everything they had been through, felt as much his little brother as Kaiba's. The whimpering got louder, and Joey pulled Mokuba into his arms, rocking the younger boy back and forth, just like he used to do with Mai.  
Joey woke up with a start, a loud screaming noise piercing his sleep. He looked over to see Mai, tossing and turning as she begged someone not to come near her. Joey didn't know what to do, all he could think of was waiting it out.   
Finally, Mai's eyes cracked opened, and she looked around the room before settling her eyes on Joey. The blond male smiled, hoping to calm Mai down a little. She was breathing heavily, and the sweat was dripping down her face. Tears were leaking out of her eyes, and Joey reached over to gently wipe them away.   
'Where is he?'   
Mai gasped, looking around the room. She got out of bed, wrapping a robe around her as she paced through the small hotel room. Joey turned on the light, hoping it would help Mai see whatever she was looking for. The drawers were opened and shut, clothes dumped on the floor as she dug through them. The closet was next, clothes thrown on top of Joey as he sat in bed watching her. Finally the bathroom, and Joey heard her start to sob again as she yanked back the shower curtain and saw nothing. Joey slid out of bed, pulling his boxers on as he approached the bathroom door.   
'Mai? Are you ok?'   
He asked, knocking quietly on the door. She yanked it open, wide-eyed and panicking.   
'Tell me what's wrong, please!'   
Joey begged, getting nervous at the woman's scared face.   
'I... had a dream. Marik.... he came b-b-b-back... for me. He took me back to that place, where I just sat there waiting for someone to notice me as time slowly ran out. I watched as the sands fell around me, and no one came. No one cared. No one missed me at all.'   
Joey took Mai's hands in his, leaning over to kiss her gently on the forehead.   
'I missed you Mai. Every card I pulled, every move I made was geared towards bringing you back from the Shadows. I tried so hard to save you, but I wasn't strong enough, just like I wasn't strong enough to save my sister. Lucky for all of us, I have some really great friends who taught me to never give up. I promise ya Mai, I'll never forget you no matter what happens, and I'll fight for you as long as you let me.'   
Mai closed her eyes, wanted to believe him, but not knowing if she really could. All she could hear was Marik's voice, telling her he was leaving her alone, trapped in that hourglass as she watched her friends disappear, starting with Joey himself.   
She pushed Joey aside, and sank back onto the bed, turning away from the other blond as she curled herself into a ball and tried to sleep.   
Joey sighed as he remembered the first time he dealt with Mai's nightmares. They came frequently, and each time Joey had learned a little bit more of her torment through Marik, and it made him want to see the Egyptian less and less every time. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that the people who took Marik and Malik had also taken Mai, he wouldn't even be helping anybody find them.   
Mokuba's screaming startled him, and he turned his attention to the small boy, holding him and letting him cry into Joey's shoulder. Mokuba's scars ran even deeper than Mai's, if that was even possible. He had been kidnapped several times, sent to the Shadow Realm, locked in a dungeon, tormented by Rare Hunters, and brainwashed by his step-brother. That doesn't even count him being kidnapped by Bakura, or the things he went through before the gang even met him.   
“Mokuba”   
he whispered, watching the younger boy thrash on the bed as he attempted to wake up from his nightmare. More screaming escaped the younger boys lips, and he jerked himself awake, crying out for his brother. Joey ran his fingers through Mokuba's hair, giving the boy a moment wake up.   
The door open, and Kaiba walked into the room, ignoring Joey as he plopped down on the bed to hug his sibling. Mokuba clung to him, sobbing out a jumbled mess of words that made no sense. Kaiba looked over at Joey, blue eyes meeting brown as they both listened to the young teenager.   
After what seemed like forever, Mokuba calmed down enough to push away from his brother, rubbing his eyes exhausted after his nightmares. He grinned sheepishly at Joey, leaning forward to bury his face in the blond's shoulder. Joey patted his back awkwardly, looking over at Kaiba's annoyed face.   
“Thank you Joey.”   
Mokuba whispered, knowing how much Joey's presence was helping him. Joey pulled back from him, looking Mokuba in the eye.   
“No one should have to deal with what you've been through Mokuba. If I can help you at all, please just let me know.”   
Mokuba nodded, laying back down reaching for his brothers' and Joeys' hands. The three boys laid down in bed, hoping to keep their nightmares at bay.  
Even in a deep sleep, the first beep of Kaiba's phone woke him up. Today was no exception. Even though it was barely 430 in the morning, and he had slept just an hour, Kaiba picked up his phone before the ring was even finished. His two bed mates didn't even stir, which made him glad.   
Tip-toeing out of Mokuba's room, he listened to his head of security tell him about Pegasus's strange request. Frowning, he snarled at Roland, telling him in no uncertain terms where to put Pegasus's offer to help. He snapped the phone shut, dropping it on the floor and stomping on it, agreeing with the point their phones needed replaced.   
“Kaiba?”   
Kaiba spun around to acknowledge Joey, who was staring at him in worry.   
“What's going on? Why did you step on your phone?”   
Kaiba sighed, knowing this was going to start a fight.   
“Pegasus wants us to come to his Island. I refuse to put Mokuba through that again, so we will not be going. His nightmares are bad enough as it is, I will not take the chance that he will get triggered being back their again.”   
“Didn't you bring him their when we were fighting DOMA? And hasn't Mokuba forgiven Pegasus after everything that has happened? He seemed fine when we were all working on the fund-raiser together.”   
Joey commented, oblivious to Kaiba's clenched fists.   
“i don't need you telling me how to raised my little brother mutt. If you have a problem, why don't you go galivant off with your little geek squad. Mokuba and I are staying here. That's final.”   
He fixed Joey with his famous death glare, only to have the blond break out into giggles. His blue eyes flashed as Kaiba attempted to throw a punch, which Joey easily dodged.   
“Sorry Kaiba, but you're really not that intimidating while your wearing Blue Eyes pj bottoms.”   
Kaiba looked down at himself, realizing that Joey was right. He was so tired he had grabbed the bottoms Mokuba had bought him as a joke without thinking about it. Joey tipped his head to the side, allowing his blond hair to fall across his eyes.   
“So Kaiba? Can I at least get a ride to Yugi's? I'll never make it there before they leave if I   
have to walk their.”   
Kaiba turned and walked back to his room, ignoring Joey's request. Several banging noises were heard from his room, and Kaiba reappeared, holding a duffle bag. “Go grab some clothes and put him in here. I'll get Mokuba up and we will leave in 15 minutes.” Joey wrapped Kaiba in a quick hug, breaking away to run into the guest room.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: I currently have this fic up on two sites, fanfiction.net and archive of our own. Starting next chapter, the fanfiction.net version will stay T rated, but the AO3 will become rated M. This is mostly to protect me from being banned, I've been informed that my fic skirts to close to an M rating so it's better save than sorry. (Not that things are going to get a whole lot worse, but it only takes one mistake.)   
Also, this chapter is dedicated to Waves, who has been kind enough to review several times, thank you for reading!! 

The Domino Airport was a small hub that dealt mostly with rich Tokyo executives that wanted to get away for the weekend. That, or Duel Monster fans who wanted to gaze upon Kaiba Corp, or visit famous sites from Battle City.   
Still, having planes appear at 2 in the morning with demands of a quick refill was not something they had often. The plane that currently sat docked waiting for its occupants had no know origin, no passenger list, and it was doubtful that the man flying it was even a licensed pilot.   
However, at the airport as well as most other places, money talked, and the plane had been refueled and taxied to the gate per instructions. Weird, but they had dealt with requests from others that topped this. T  
he whole thing would have barely caused a stir if it wasn't for the next phone call. Kaiba's right hand man, demanding that his private plane be prepped to go, ready to fly in the next hour, and not the Blue Eyes plane, one of the unmarked Kaiba Corp ones.   
Now, the acting head of security for the Airport was concerned. Two strange requests that were leaving within an hour of each other, to a destination that was unknown. He strolled through the terminal, heading towards the gate the first plane was docked at.   
While the airport wasn't that big, his office was across the street, in a small building that was often overlooked. It was there that the head of security and his team monitored those who came in and out of Domino to ensure the towns safety.  
He stood in the gate, arms crossed as he waited for the groups to arrive. In order to make their times, they would have to be here within 10 minutes, and that was if they met his strict requirements.   
His sharp gaze looked over the airport, spotting a strange group of people approaching him. He recognized the two men who had gotten off the plane when it landed, and walked up to them, holding up a hand.   
“Excuse me, but I need to have a few words with all of you before I can allow you to board. Security purposes, I'm sure you can understand.”   
With that, he pointed all of them towards an interview room, ignoring the death glares he was receiving from the two men, as well as the rest of the group. A police officer approached them, hand on his hip as he waited to see if they would raise a fuss. Croquet rolled his eyes, impatient to get back to his boss and make sure he was alright.   
“We're coming, please lead the way.”   
With that they all entered the room, sitting down and waiting for their interviews to start. When the head of security entered and sat down, Kemo produced some paperwork, listing everyone who was going to be on the plane as well as its destination.   
“I hope this clears up any issues you have with our travel plans sir. Are there anymore questions that you have for us?”   
Kemo asked calmly, looking over the older man as his face started to flush.   
“You'll leave when I'm ready for you to leave. Something fishy is going on, and I want to know right now.”   
Kaiba entered the room then, slamming down his briefcase.   
“I'm a busy man on a very tight schedule. What do I need to do to make this issue go away. I've flown out of this airport hundreds of times before without any problems. Don't make me take my business elsewhere.”   
5 minutes later they all left the room, the head of security apologizing enthusiastically for delaying them. Kaiba smirked to himself, impressed with how quickly he made the man squirm. He turned to Croquet, standing as tall as possible to look him in the eye.   
“All right Croquet, I'm here. What do you need me too do.”   
“I gave your bodyguard the coordinates of where to meet. I'd rather not speak them out loud in public if you would be so kind.”   
Kaiba rolled his eyes at the other man, turning to look at Roland. Joey stepped forward, Mokuba in tow as he waved at his friends.   
“So, how are we dividing up the planes then? Is there enough room for all of us on one or what.”   
Kaiba snorted, turning away from them all.   
“I'll be going on my own plane with my brother.”   
Mokuba pulled Joey closer, and Kaiba sighed as he agreed to allow the blond on also. Mokuba smiled at the rest of them, looking over at his brother before he speaked.   
“We can take a few others too right Seto? There's only four of us if someone else wants to come.”   
Ryou's eyes light up, smiling at Tea.  
“How about we go with them? I'm sure Joey and Kaiba on a plane will provide some good entertainment.”   
Tea agreed, while Bakura growled in annoyance at them as he was lead away by his own group. Tristan took a moment to lock eyes with Joey, nodding at the blond as he turned to   
board the plane, leaving Joey to hope his buddy had started to forgive him for Duke's disappearance.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Sitting on the plane with Kaiba was an uncomfortable experience. He stared moodily out the window, leaving the other teens to themselves. Conversations were quickly brought up and discarded, a variety of topics that none of them wanted to really worry about.   
That was until Ryou turned to Mokuba and asked how the hotel was coming along. Mokuba beamed, happy to talk about his first real Kaiba Corp project.   
“It's going great! We raised enough money to get the plans drawn up and approved, and we have picked several contractors to do the work. We didn't do a big groundbreaking ceremony because I'm hoping to have it done by January and organizing one would have taken weeks.”   
“That's an ambitious time table Mokuba, I hope you can stick with it.”   
Tea commented, smiling at the younger boy. Mokuba bounced in his chair, excited at his next piece of news.   
“I haven't told anyone this yet, but I received a phone call from the president of Starchs. He's offered to donate a million yen of his own money, plus give all the materials that we need at cost.”   
Ryou whistled, settling back into his seat.   
“That's pretty impressive Mokuba. I say, you are doing a fantastic job”   
“Yea, I'm really impressed by this Mokuba. I know my mom had a rough time when Serenity was in the hospital finding a cheap place to stay at. She would have been thrilled if this was there back then.”   
“Yea, and we saved so much money that we were able to get extra crew members to keep the project on time. We were given a product list by Starchs, and he's already ordered most of the appliances for the rooms. Even if we have to throw in some advertising, it will be worth it to reach our goals!”   
Kaiba smiled warmly at his little brother, knowing how much his brother wanted this. Watching Mokuba raise money for this project, and his professionalism dealing with all of the issues that came up during the planning. He was a quick study, and he would make a great Vice President some day.   
The group began to chat, the ice finally broken by Mokuba's announcement. Kaiba continued to stare out the window, only pausing to lock eyes with the honey-eyed blond sitting next to his brother. 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Several grueling hours later, they landed on the Island. The sun had rose, bathing the area with a soft orange glow. The group left the plane, Kaiba placing a hand firmly on Mokuba's shoulder to protect him from Pegasus.   
Roland followed, Fugata fanning out to watch his blind side. The two body guards eyed the group, silently assessing the area to check for any traps. Roland approached Croquet, quietly talking to the other man. Satisfied that it was safe for his employer to proceed, he nodded at Kaiba, pointing at Kemo to tell him to continue watching their backs.   
He then rounded up all the kids, pulling Joey into the group with a look. The blond kept trying to wander off, thoughts of figuring out this mess and gettting Mai back interfering with his common sense to keep himself safe.   
Kaiba rolled his eyes at the mutt, holding on to his brother even tighter. Mokuba wrapped himself around his brother's leg, the sight of Pegasus's castle making him cringe. A hand began to stroke his hair, and Mokuba smiled up at his brother, who knew exactly what was wrong.   
“All right. I need everyone to walk this way, Master Pegasus is expecting all of you in his study in the next few minutes. Please, step lively and keep up.”   
With that Kemo led the group away, towards the intimidating castle that hosted the creator of Duel Monsters.   
Yami walked with the rest of the group, looking over his shoulder apprehensively. He felt someone watching them, he just wasn't sure who. One look at Bakura confirmed that he was feeling the same thing, and the two Yami's shared a glance. Yami focused his eyes on his hikari, stepping closer to the young boy. Bakura wanted to do the same, but his was holding hands with Tea, pointing out different areas and talking about their combined experiences on the island.   
Bakura settled on walking behind them, steeling himself to protect both of the should something pop up. Yami shook his head, taking Yugi's hand as the shorter boy talked to Tristan. Joey walked next to Croquet, watching the bodyguard for any signs of distress. The Kaiba brothers walked slightly behind the rest of the group, flanked by their two bodyguards. Mokuba had let go of his brother, not wanting to act like a scared child in front of the group. They made it to the stairs, Kemo reaching out to unlock the doors.   
“Master Pegasus has set up a suite of rooms, the same ones you stayed in during Duelist Kingdom. Please, pick a room and drop your stuff off, and meet back here in 10 minutes.” Yami frowned, looking over at Bakura.   
“Let's try to stay in rooms together guys, I don't want anyone sleeping alone.”   
Yami suggested, smiling at his hikari. Yugi nodded, knowing Yami was correct.   
“How do we want to do this?”   
“I'll take Wheeler and Taylor in a room. You take the other three. I'm sure Ryou doesn't want to share a room with me.”   
Bakura announced, grabbing the two boys and shoving them through a doorway. Ryou blinked in surprise at his Yami's actions, Tea grabbing his hand to calm him. Yugi smiled at the two, indicating they enter another door. That left the Kaiba Brothers, who took a third room with their bodyguards.   
All the rooms were on the same side, with doors that connected them. It was a smart move, if something happened, the rest of them could be there to help in seconds. Kaiba placed down his bag, watching as his bodyguards checked the room. The brothers were in the middle, with Yugi on one side and Joey on the other. Speaking of the blond, he was entering the room through the middle, flashing a smile at Mokuba.   
“Hey, anybody home?”   
“Didn't anyone teach you any manners? It's rude to enter somewhere where you are not wanted Wheeler.”   
Kaiba snarled, not willing to put up with him. Joey ignored him, winking at Mokuba.   
“Check out the view from the balcony Mokuba. The ocean is beautiful here!”   
Mokuba followed the other boy, stepping out onto the balcony to look. The door shut, and Kaiba was left alone, the bodyguards having gone into the other rooms to check them. He frowned, annoyed with the mutt who kept managing to drag his brother away from him.  
A shadow appeared, and he turned to see Yami, staring intently at him. Kaiba's face drained, surprised to be so close to the other boy. He had stayed away from Yami, not sure how to deal with the spirits sudden appearance back into his life.  
Every time he saw him, the old feelings of rage and disgust appeared, causing sleepless nights and long days. The worst part was Yami no longer dueled, as he told Kaiba every time the brunet tried to start one.   
That meant Kaiba would never reclaim his title, never beat the other boy in a duel. His obsession over this was causing him to loose sleep, and had even caused him to lash out at his little brother. As a result, Mokuba's nightmares had started again, and somehow the mutt had inserted himself into their lives.   
Worst yet, he had let the blond into his home, allowing him to comfort Mokuba since Kaiba could not do it himself. Everything he had done, everything he had accomplished, meant nothing because he couldn't protect the one person who meant more to him than anything. Kaiba growled to himself, focusing his anger out on the Pharaoh. The one who had started all these feelings of inadequacy, and the one who always be his better.   
“Hello Kaiba.”   
“What do you want Yami? In case you haven't noticed, we are in the middle of something so why don't you just scram.”   
Yami sighed, looking over at the two on the balcony.   
“We've been through quite a bit together haven't we? Dueling, saving the world numerous times, saving our friends and family... it seems like no matter what happened, fate always put us in each others paths.”   
Kaiba snorted, rolling his eyes.   
“You know I don't believe in all of that magic crap Yami. I may have to admit you were the Pharaoh, but I make my own destiny. No one decides what happens in my life besides me!”   
Yami smirked, reveling in Kaiba's familiar rants.   
“I know that you have a hard time believing it Kaiba, but destiny has chosen all of us to be here at this time. I came back to my friends, to the people who I cared about, including you and your brother.”   
With that, Yami reached for Kaiba's hand, wrapping his fingers around the brunet's. Kaiba's eyes grew wide, and he jerked back, pulling Yami towards him by accident. The two boys stumbled, landing next to each other on the floor. Kaiba refused to look at Yami, knowing his emotions were written all over his face.   
“Kaiba, Yugi and I.... we're meant to be. He is the other half of my soul, and he is the only one I want to be with. Your obsession with me, with beating me in a game, needs to be over. It is just leftover from the part of you I banished so long ago. Let the light in, so you can move on and find some peace. Please, for your sake, and Mokuba's. If you don't, the darkness will come back, and I won't be able to save you this time without my powers.”   
With that, Yami got off the floor, holding out a hand to help the CEO up as well. Kaiba closed his eyes, not admitting that Yami was right. He had been feeling his old self creeping in again, appearing in the weirdest spots. His lack of patience with Mokuba, his obsessing over Joey beating Yami, the old tightness in his chest when he thought about being worthless in others eyes.   
“Kaiba? We need to get going, it's been long enough and Pegasus is waiting for us.”   
Kaiba nodded, looking over at his brother, who was looking over the water at something Joey was pointing at. Yami tapped on the door, and Mokuba waved, turning back to Joey as they laughed about something. Yami turned back to Kaiba, finally looking the taller boy in the eye.   
“One more thing. Leave Joey alone. I see the way you look at him when you think no ones watching. I see the bruises he has gotten while at your home, and the look in his eyes when you insult him. He is suffering enough, and he doesn't need you tormenting him with your games.”  
Kaiba rolled his eyes, not caring to hear Yami's ranting. Yami stepped closer, making sure Kaiba could clearning hear what he had to say next.   
“Yes, he beat me in a game. No, I didn't let him win. We fought honorably, and he managed to come up with a great combo that won him the duel. You may see him as weak, but he was two turns away from beating me in Duelist Kingdom, and the only reason he didn't beat Marik during Battle City was because of the sick shadow games Marik was playing on him. He is not a third-rate duelists, he is one of the best ones there is. You know this as well as I do.”   
Kaiba opened his mouth to protest, only to close it when his brother came back into the room,   
pulling said blond behind him.   
“Seto! You should see the ocean from here, it's so blue! I've never seen water that looks like that before!”   
Mokuba stated, bouncing up and down a little.   
“Mokuba, we live in Japan. Everywhere is next to the ocean.” Kaiba reminded him, smiling at his little brother.  
“Well, I want to go swimming later. You never let me go swimming at home, even though we have a pool!”   
“We aren't here on vacation Mokuba. We are here to find out what Pegasus knows and go back home.”   
“Well maybe we can go walk on the beach later or something at least. This island is really cool, and since we aren't worried about Pegasus coming after us, let's enjoy it a little.”   
Mokuba suggested, causing the three older teenagers to blanch.   
Roland chose that moment to re-enter the room, nodding at his boss that things were clear. “We need to go meet Kemo now, sir.”   
He told Kaiba, who nodded absent-mindedly.   
“All right, let's get this over with already.”   
Kaiba grabbed his brother by the arm, leading him out of the room with the rest of the group   
following.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@  
Pegasus sat at his dining room table, absently swirling the wine in his glass. It may not even be noon, but like the saying goes 'it's 5 o'clock somewhere.' He took a sip, enjoying the tingling on his tongue of his expensive wine.   
“Kaiba-boy, I know you're here. I can sense you, even without my eye. Come, join me won't you.”   
Pegasus muttered, closing his eyes as memories of the group of teenagers that were approaching his mansion came to him.   
“We've been through so much together. First, meeting all those years ago when your step-father introduced us. Then, when you came here to rescue your little brother from me. Now, we are bonded again by this force that seeks to destroy us. Fate works in mysterious ways doesn't it?”   
Pegasus smiled, hearing the footsteps of the teenagers approaching him. The doors opened, and Yugi appeared, followed closely by Yami.   
“Well if it isn't Yugi and the Pharaoh. How nice to see you again. I trust your grandfather is doing better?”   
Yugi nodded, taking a place at the table. Yami sat next to him, placing his body in between Yugi's and Pegasus's. Kaiba appeared next, sitting as far away from the older man as he could, flanked by his bodyguards. The rest of the gang filtered in, sitting down and looking towards Pegasus. The room was quiet for a minute while they all waited for their host to speak. Pegasus smiled at the teenagers before nodded at a guard who had been hovering near the door.   
“Please, tell the kitchen they can bring out lunch now.”   
The young man nodded and disappeared out the back door. Pegasus turned to the rest of the group and smiled.   
“Now then, I believe you want me to explain what I have found out about this new evil that has emerged.”  
Pegasus reached for his drawing pad, flipping for a certain page. Finding it, he turned the pad towards Yami, who's eyes widened in surprise.   
“Even with my Eye gone, I still have nightmares. I can still sense peoples emotions, and I use these visions to my advantage whenever possible. Most importantly, I am still in touch with the Shadow Realm, even though most of it was destroyed when Yugi beat Yami and sent him into the afterlife.”   
Yugi subconsciously reached for Yami's hand, reassuring himself that his other half was still there.   
“The other night I had a dream. It was of another world, where you all existed but myself, Duke, the Ishtars, and Mai didn't exist. In this world, Yugi still solved the puzzle,   
but the Pharaoh didn't befriend him. Instead, he took over Yugi's body, playing games with people who dared to hurt his light and his friends. He destroyed many people, sending them to suffer in their worst nightmares.”   
All eyes turned towards Yami, who pulled back from everyone, avoiding contact with people. Bakura laughed, enjoying everyone seeing Yami as the bad guy for once. Pegasus stared at him, shaking his head as he continued his story.   
“I don't think you would enjoy this so much Bakura if you knew the things you did in this other world. Between the two of you, the body count was extremely high. Most notably, was your connection with Kaiba-boy over here.”   
Pegasus pointed at the brunet, who was steaming.   
“When I woke up, I drew this picture of the people I saw. Look familiar?”   
With that, Pegasus showed the picture to the rest of the group. It was of two people dueling, one clearly Yami, the other Kaiba. At first glance, it seemed like a scene that had played out before, then they all looked again. Yami's eyes were darker, sparking in a way no one ever saw before. Kaiba looked a little crazy, his eyes were full of rage that reminded the group of when they had first met the CEO.   
“This was the vision I had last night, where you two dueled each other with the ultimate stakes on the line. Yugi's Grandfather was trapped in a glass box, and if Yugi lost, Kaiba would have subjected the man to a harsh penalty which would have certainly killed him.”   
Yugi gasped, covering his eyes to hopefully stop seeing the vision of his grandfather dying in front of him. Pegasus smiled reassuingly at the small boy, knowing that he was going to cause him more distress.   
“I believe that this world is an alternative reality to ours, one that exists in a slightly different timeline. I don't know what caused the change, only that it has happened. Whatever it was, it   
caused new people to be introduced into your world, expanding it outside your circle of school, bringing you on new adventures and eventually bringing you to what was suppose to be the ending of your story. However, it looks like something has happened to disrupt the natural ending, leaving us here.”   
Joey's eyebrows raised up, looking over at Kaiba and blushing slightly. Luckily nobody noticed, and Joey shook his head quickly, trying to get rid of the thoughts in his head. Kaiba watched him, the same thoughts running through his head.   
'Could it have been because I kissed him? Is that what started this whole thing?'   
Kaiba wondered to himself, annoyed yet again that he had even bothered to acknowledge the blond.  
“So what is it that we are fighting against? I thought you said you had all the answers Pegasus?”   
Tristan asked, annoyed at how the older man just kept on rambling.  
Tea raised her eyebrows at her friends, knowing that he was getting ready to break.   
“Tristan, it's going to be fine. We will find Duke and everyone else and get them back I promise. Right Yugi?”   
Yugi nodded, looking over at Pegasus hopefully.   
“What do these visions have to do with our current situation? I'm not really understanding what you are telling us.”   
“Don't worry Yugi-boy, I'm getting there. I believe that the group who is behind this whole thing is from this other world. Somehow our two dimensions are crossing over, and someone from that world is taking out all of those who shouldn't actually exist here. Which, by the way, included myself and all of my staff. I believe they are coming after me next, and there is no way any of us could stop them.”   
The entire table gasped, looking at each other anxiously.   
“So you brought us here to put us all in danger. You put Mokuba in danger again you sick twisted little man! I should snap your neck myself!!”   
Kaiba yelled, jumping up from his chair to attack the former eye holder. Croquet smoothly stepped forward, flipping Kaiba up on the table before the brunet could even take a step.   
“Sit down sir, Master Pegasus is not done talking to you.”  
Kaiba stared at Croquet, silently threatening to take out the massive bodyguard. The older man just stared back, knowing that he could take down the boy without a problem, but enjoying watching him squirm. Finally, Kaiba nodded that he wouldn't attack again, and he was let go, but Croquet made sure to be within reaching distance. Pegasus frowned at the two, not impressed by their little brawl.   
“Come now Kaiba-boy, if i'm right, no one will touch a hair on your little brother's head. They don't want him, they want me, and me alone. I called you all here so we could talk strategy, not fight amongst ourselves over trivial matters such as these.”  
Kaiba sat in his chair, steam rising from him as he tried to get control of his emotions. Mokuba grabbed his brother's hand, giving it a good squeeze as he smiled at Kaiba, reassuring him that he was going to be alright. Kaiba smiled back at his little brother before glaring at Pegasus again.   
“So what is it that we have to do to fix this?”


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I've got most of this story mapped out, which makes writing the chapters a lot easier!!! It looks right now that their will be about 7 more chapters, unless I get a little too long winded. Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to read this. 

Pegasus stretched out on his lawn chair, swirling his ever-present glass of wine while he watched the group in front of him. After lunch, Mokuba had begged his brother to go down to the beach, causing Kaiba's eyes to twitch. The sight had greatly amused the older CEO, and he had offered to have his staff set up a picnic area, complete with lawn chairs and a small fire for making smores on.   
Kaiba had stared at Pegasus, not wanting the older man to do anything nice for him or his little brother. Thoughts of Duelist Kingdom and being trapped in cards filtered through his mind, causing the young genius to pale as the memories of losing his brother came back to him.   
Yami had chosen that moment to intervene, suggesting that all the teens go down to the water, and that it was a good place to distract Mokuba while they tried to come up with a plan to defeat those who were against them.   
That was how they all found themselves here, with Mokuba and Ryou splashing themselves in the water while Tea attempted to build a sand castle. Yugi watched, smiled at his friend when she got frustrated that her walls were falling down. Tristan meanwhile ignored everybody, poking at the sand with a stick.  
Bakura stood off in the distance, keeping an eye on Ryou while also watching Pegasus. The bodyguards were all standing around, all four ready to tackle each other at the first sign of any trouble.   
Yami and Kaiba sat near Pegasus, the three of them trying to come up with their next move. Kaiba was writing something down, while Yami appeared to be meditating, trying to contact someone, even though Pegasus was not really sure who it was. The ancient Pharaoh still held many secrets, and Pegasus regretted not having his eye to help him figure them all out. “Pharaoh, may I ask what it is that you are doing? It's not very polite to ignore your host you know. I would have thought you would have better manners than that.”   
Yami cracked open an eye, looking back at the silver-haired man in agitation but said nothing. Pegasus closed his eyes, knowing Yami was an expert at keeping secrets, after all he had wiped his own memory clean in order to protect them before!   
“So, if I understand what you are telling us right, somewhere there is an alternate world where we all live in that somehow is interfering with this one?”   
Kaiba interrupted, no looking up from his writing.   
“That is correct Kaiba-boy. Basically at some point, one of you made a different choice in your life, and two different universes were born. In order to figure out who is behind all of this, we need to figure out what that choice was, and how it split our time line. Hopefully then we will be able to fix it, and get back those who are lost.”   
Kaiba continued to write things down, fighting back his urge to complain that he had no interest in getting back any of these people. Yami yawned and sat up, looking for his Aibou. Spotting him in the sand with Tea, he stood up, nodding to the two other men before strolling down the beach to join his friends.   
Pegasus and Kaiba watched him go, the older man looking over at his young protege's face as the Pharaoh left. Pegasus sighed, knowing that look all to well.   
“So tell me Kaiba-boy, how do things go between you and the Pharaoh? Have you two settled your differences yet?”  
Kaiba snorted, squeezing his pen until he snapped it and the ink squirted out.   
“I have no interest in anything that has to do with him. He's been nothing but a distraction since I've met him, and now that he doesn't duel anymore, I can focus on my company and raising my little brother.”   
“Is that really what you're going to do Kaiba? I know you better than any body here, and I know you don't let things go so easily.”   
Kaiba started, realizing that Pegasus was right. The two had known each other for a long time, practically since the day the brothers had been adopted by Gozaboru. The Duel Monsters creator had seen Kaiba at his lowest, when he was beaten and abused by his   
father, and had been there when Kaiba had finally triumph and took over Kaiba Corp.  
He knew the younger boys biggest weakness, and had exploited that several times when the opportunity had presented itself. The though made Kaiba's hands shake, and he clenched his fists, trying not to hit Pegasus.  
A shout distracted him, and he looked out to see Mokuba, waving at him from the water, where Ryou was attempting to dunk him. Kaiba smiled, waving back at his little brother while he attempted to calm himself down. Pegasus reached forward, placing a hand on the brunets back which made Kaiba jump.  
“Kaiba-boy, you need to listen to me. Let it go. These feelings that you are bottling up are not healthy for you or for your brother. I know about the conversation you had with the Pharaoh, listen to him. Your obsessions with him are a habit now, and habits are just things   
we need to break. I believe your father told you that before. He was a cruel man, and he   
destroyed your childhood, and for that I'm truly sorry.”   
Pegasus looked out at the water, watching the teens playing with each other.   
“I was only a little bit older than you when I lost Cecila, and the memories drove me insane. They cost me so much- almost 20 years of my life, my heart and soul, and the chance to truly be a mentor to you and young Yugi. Duelist Kingdom was set up so I could use both of you to bring her back, in a sick, twisted plot that made sense only in my mind. There are days I wish I could turn back the clock, to never have received that accrused eye, it brought me nothing but pain and suffering.”   
Pegasus leaned forward, allowing Kaiba a glimpse of the scar tissue that surronded his empty eye socket before he shook his head, his hair once again hiding his imperfect features.   
“Don't let the past dictate who you are now. You believe that you can make your own destiny, so do it. Learn to care about people, and trust that someone actually cares enough about you to be let in.”   
Kaiba's eyes shifted to Joey, who was currently helping Mokuba dunk Ryou underneath the waves. Pegasus followed the younger boys gaze and smiled.   
“I think Joseph would be perfect for you Kaiba-boy. Think about all the things you've done to him, and he is still willing to be around you. Mokuba clearly adores him, and that little brother of yours is a good judge of character. Make him your friend, let him in. Stop with the harassment and the threats, its not going to work on him. He's not the Pharaoh, and he doesn't need to be. He is a great duelist all in his own right, he does not stand in anyone's shadow.”   
Pegasus smiled, thinking to himself.   
“Perhaps we should have a duel tomorrow Kaiba. You and Joseph against myself and the Pharaoh. Give you two a chance to bond a little. Have a little bit of fun with it. It's all about the baby-steps, Kaiba-boy.”   
With that Pegasus got up, nodding to the boy before he walked down to the beach, plucking himself next to Tea to help her build a massive sand castle. Kaiba frowned, annoyed that he had been lectured by the two people he could stand the least in one day.   
Maybe they did have a point. Life couldn't keep going on like this, something had to change. Ever since he kissed the mutt at that dinner, he felt himself slipping backwards to the person he had been before all this had started.   
He couldn't go back there, not without losing Mokuba, and he refused to let that happen. Maybe Pegasus wasn't so far off in his suggestions after all. Kaiba got up, walking down to join the rest of the group down by the water.   
Pegasus was discussing dueling with Yami, who seemed to enjoy the idea. Kaiba frowned, looking out at the water for a brief instance. Closing his eyes, he steeled himself before intruding.   
“What about a team duel? After all, there's quite a few of us here, maybe it'll be interesting.”   
Pegasus winked at Kaiba before wrapping an arm around Yami.   
“I'll take the former Pharaoh here, who would you like to duel with Kaiba-boy?”   
Yami shrugged off Pegasus's arm, clearly annoyed at him.   
“I no longer duel Pegasus. Perhaps you would like to pick another partner. Maybe Yugi?” Pegasus's face fell at Yami's comment, shocked that the King of Games himself refused to duel with him. Then he glanced at Yugi, and he understood.   
The Pharaoh's superiority at games had come from his bond with the monsters, and now that he no longer had the power of his Puzzle, his drive to win had disappeared. Now it was Yugi who truly held the crown, and Pegasus would be honored to duel by his side. That was, if Kaiba-boy didn't snatch up the younger boy first.   
“Maybe I'll have Ryou duel with me, you know to spice things up a bit?”   
He pondered, looking at the white-haired boy.   
“I'm not sure Yugi would want to duel with me as a partner, he'd probably rather be with you Kaiba.”   
“I don't blame him, who wouldn't want to be on the winning team? However, I have someone else in mind to duel with.”   
With that he turned towards the water, cupping his hands over his face to yell out   
“Wheeler!”   
Joey paused in his actions just long enough for Ryou to push him over, causing the blond to disappear under the waves for a few seconds. He emerged slowly, crawling out of the water unable to stand because he was laughing so hard.   
Ryou and Mokuba both came out, helping him up while they themselves were laughing. Joey winked at the two before trotting over to Kaiba, Pegasus, and Yami, arching his eyebrows at them.   
“What do you want Kaiba? I promise I was keeping an eye on your brother you don't have to be a jerk.”   
“Why don't you stop running your mouth before you know what's going on Wheeler. We've been challenged to a duel, you up for it?”   
Joey stared at Kaiba, unsure if he had heard correctly.   
“Are you asking me to duel with you, or against you?”   
Kaiba sighed, knowing he was going to regret this.   
“Pegasus has challenged us to a duel against him and Yugi. Are you up for it or not?”   
Joey's eyes got wide as he looked the brunet in shock. He then looked over at Yami, who was smiling at him.   
“I mean, if you're afraid you're gonna pee yourself playing with the big boys I get it Wheeler, sometimes you can't teach an old mutt new tricks after all.”   
Kaiba smiled to himself, knowing that his words would be enough to send the blond over the edge.   
“I'm not worried about playing with you Kaiba, I'm just as good of a duelist as you are, so be prepared for me to save your sorry butt tomorrow when Pegasus is about to cream it!! Joey Wheeler never backs down from a challenge, and he always protects his team mates.” Pegasus smiled at Joey's enthusiasm, knowing it was going to be an interesting match-up tomorrow.   
“Well, I guess all that is left is to make up our decks. Did you all bring yours? If not, I can have some cards brought down for you to build one.”   
Yugi, Kaiba, and Joey all nodded, having packed all their decks. Pegasus clapped his hands in delight, happy with this turn of events.   
“Well then, I guess we should split up and come up with a strategy. Yugi, you and I will have a grand time. I'll bring out some cards for us to look over. Kaiba, Joey, I'll send you some as well, just in case your decks need a little freshening up. Don't worry, nothing that hasn't been released to the general public yet. This is just a fun, clean card game so no cheating, and no banned cards. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the stakes are just for bragging.”   
Joey nodded, looking over at Kaiba who had a small glint in his eyes. This competition was going to be fun, and hopefully he didn't embarrass himself in front of his friends. Speaking of which... his eyes moved over to Tristan, who was sitting by himself at the fire. Joey sighed, making his way over to approach his buddy carefully. Sitting next to him, Joey stared at the fire, unsure of how to start this conversation.   
“How long did it take you to smile again?”   
The question came out of no where and Joey jumped back, looking over at Tristan who was staring at him intently.   
“You mean after Mai disappeared? Awhile. I couldn't do anything, all I thought about was that someone was hurting her and I wasn't there, and then I would forget that she was gone   
and I would turn to say something to her and there was no one. That's the hardest part, when you see something or hear something or go to say something that only that one person would understand and they aren't there.”   
Tristan sighed, poking at the sand yet again.   
“Do you think we will find them?”   
He wondered, and Joey wrapped his arm around his buddy.   
“I really and truly do. We have to much going for ourselves to loose this. Look, even Kaiba is here to help, who would have thought that would ever happen? Not me!”   
Tristan followed Joey's gaze over to the CEO, who was standing near Yami arguing over cards.   
“He has a thing for you Joey, that's the only reason he's here.”   
Joey jumped back, staring at Tristan in utter shock.   
“What do you mean he has a thing for me? He hates me remember? He barely says a civil word to me!”   
Tristan shook his head, smirking at his best buddy's cluelessness.   
“Obviously you don't see the way he looks at you. Look in his eyes Joey, there is something there.”   
“Yea, an obsession with me because he needs someone to freak out over. He can't do it with Yami anymore, so he choose me. It's my fault really, I shouldn't have tried to torment him when I told him I won that duel against Yug to get back my Red Eyes.”   
Joey smiled at the memory of finally beating Yugi and Yami in a duel, even if it wasn't an official one.   
“He even offered to duel with me tomorrow against Yugi and Pegasus. If I didn't know better I would think he's suffered some sort of brain damage. It kind of creeps me out if I must be honest.”   
Tristan clasped Joey's shoulder, pushing the blond down in the sand.   
“Well don't think about it too much then. Let's make some S'mores, I'm starving!!”   
Joey cheered, reaching for the marshmallows and a roasting stick.

After cooking marshmallows for what seemed like hours, the gang made it back to the castle, intent on exploring the place carefully. Pegasus led them on a tour, up and down the narrow hallways to various rooms, ending in the library. There the gang spread out, checking out the books in dozens of different languages by people who most of them had never even heard of before. Dinner was served there, a casual affair where they could talk and discuss different cards and strategies. Mokuba stuck close to Joey, often ignoring his older brother when he tried to talk to him. Kaiba frowned at this, knowing that it was mostly his fault to begin with,   
even though he would have loved to blame the mutt.   
Maybe later, right now he needed to try to gather some information from Pegasus about what exactly they were up against. Settling down next to the silver-haired man, he pulled out his laptop which he had grabbed from his room after they had left the beach. Flipping the lid up, he waited for it to load while he glanced over at his brother again, silently cursing at himself for pushing the one person he cared about away.   
Hands reached for him, grabbing at him all over his body. Mokuba screamed, kicking and swinging in vain at the people who were coming for him. He screamed for his brother, but Seto couldn't hear him through the thick glass that was around him.   
Still he tried, begging his brother to come save him from the people that were coming to hurt him. Suddenly, they were gone, replaced with a grusome Duel Monsters Holigram of Baby Dragon, blood dripping down it's face as it stared at Mokuba hungrily. Mokuba screamed again, swinging his arms around the thick fog that was gathering, hoping his brother would see him and come save him.   
Seto's voice broke through, mocking him for losing a game, telling him he was being punished for being weak, just like Seto always got punished. Mokuba cried out again, begging for someone, anyone to come help him. His heart was racing, sweat pouring down his back, he wasn't sure how much longer he could last in this nightmare that felt way to real.   
A hand shot through the smoke, grabbing his arm and pulling him out just as Baby Dragon transformed into Thousand Dragon, lurching forward to finish him off. Mokuba fell to the ground, panting for air as he tried to collect himself.   
“Thank you for resucing me Seto.”   
He whispered, looking up only to see the Pharaoh in front of him, arms crossed and staring straight at him. The other man nodded, turning to walk through another door. Mokuba called out to him, begging him not to go through but the Pharaoh ignored him, disappearing into the darkness. Mokuba sank back down, hugging his knees to his chest as he cried.   
Mokuba sat up with a start, tears leaking out his eyes. His brother was sitting on one side, arms wrapped around him, Joey on the other side, having ran into the room when he heard Mokuba's screams. He had been awake already, unable to sleep because of Tristan's tossing and turning. The brunet too was having a nightmare, screaming out to Joey, Tea, Yugi and his nephew to get out of wherever they were.   
Joey looked over at Mokuba, who had jerked himself away from his brother to stand up. Ignoring Kaiba, he looked over at Joey with tears in his eyes, not sure of what to say. Bakura choose this moment to enter, ignoring everyone to growl at Joey.   
“You need to come take care of your friend before I take care of him for you. His crying is getting on my nerves.”  
Joey ignored Bakura, walking back into their room to try to wake up his buddy. Grabbing the brunets shoulder, he shook it awkwardly, while Mokuba sat down on the bed. Tristans eyes opened, and he looked at Joey and Mokuba apprehensively, not knowing where he was or what was going on. He blinked several times, slowly getting up, holding his pounding head.   
“Joey... Mokuba what's going on? That dream felt so real, like it was a bad memory.”  
“I had a dream too Tristan, it felt more like a nightmare though. I was trapped in a box, being attacked by Duel Monsters, when Yugi saved me.”   
Kaiba's fists clenched at the mention of the shorter duelists name, annoyed that once again he had to rely on someone else to protect his brother. He stalled in the doorway for only a second, entering the room to be with his brother. He reached for Mokuba, who turned and smacked him right in the chest. The three other boys watched him in surprise, not knowing how to react to Mokuba's outburst.   
“You're the reason I was in there! You locked me in there because I lost a game and you were punishing me! It's just like the time you took over Kaiba Corp, and you abused me to get what you wanted. I'm tired of it! I'm your brother Seto, why do you always have to treat me like I'm a 2nd class citizen!”   
Mokuba cried out, pushing his brother away again. Kaiba stared at him in shock, not knowing what to say. Yes, he had done things he wasn't proud of, but he had always done them with the intentions of making Mokuba's life better, not worse.   
“Mokuba...”   
He trailed off, not knowing what to say. Mokuba ignored him, looking back at Tristan.   
“What was your dream about?”   
He wondered, looking at him.  
“I was in this room with Yugi, Joey, Tea, and my nephew. These boxes were falling all around us, and we were attempting to climb them. There was a small hole at the top, and we were trying to get to it before we were crushed by the boxes. We got there, and I was pushing Yugi  
through the hole. I tried to follow, but a box had managed to pin me. Then another box covered the hole. I was alone, yelling out for anyone to help me. After a few minutes I managed to get my coat loose, but I still had no one to help me out. Then, a tile moved and a hand appeared, reaching for me. I grabbed it, and managed to get out. There was Mokuba, shaking in relief that he managed to rescue me. He told me he was paying Yugi back for saving him. That's when I woke up.”   
Joey frowned at his friends dream, looking over at Mokuba.   
“Seems weird that you two both had nightmares. Especially since they sound like they are connected somehow.”   
Just then the side door opened, and Yugi ran into the room.   
“Is everyone ok? I heard screaming.”   
Joey nodded, wrapping an arm around Mokuba and giving him a squeeze.   
“Yea, we just had a few bad dreams happening in here. Everything ok in your room Yug?” Yugi nodded, smiling at the group assembled.   
“How about we all go back to sleep? There's a duel in a few hours and Kaiba and I are going to kick your butt!!!”   
Yugi nodded slowly at this, looking over at Kaiba, who was pouted in the corner while he stared at his brother.   
“All right, but if you need anything, just remember we are in the next room.”   
The tri-colored duelist stated, smiling at Mokuba who was still shaking. He grabbed Joey's arm, quietly talking to the blond while his brother seethed.   
“Seto, I'm going to stay in here with Joey and Tristan tonight. I feel more comfortable with them right now.”   
Mokuba told his brother, turning his eyes from Kaiba's face to avoid his angry look. Kaiba responded by walking back into his room, pushing past Yugi who gave the group a small smile before disappearing himself. Bakura groaned to himself, plopping back down on the coach before turning towards the wall. Tristan and Joey laid back down on the bed, a tight fit with Mokuba in between them, but they made it work.   
“You know you shouldn't be angry with your brother Mokuba, he's trying to do all this for you. He doesn't always do the best thing, but he has the best of intentions when it comes to you his little brother.”   
Joey stated, looking up at the dark ceiling. Tristan hummed his agreement, and Mokuba closed his eyes, a few tears leaking out as he tried to block out his brothers devastated face.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I spent some time this week re-reading my original notes for this fic and how far I have deviated from my original ideas... Anyway I gutted a lot of this chapter, and there is about 5 more left before the end. Enjoy and thanks for reading. 

 

Joey rolled over in bed, barely missing knocking Mokuba in the face with his elbow. Tristan was up too, obviously not ready to get up yet either. The two boys winked at each other, and without warning they both reached out and began to tickle the younger boy. Mokuba woke up laughing, threatening to get the other two.  
Before long, a pillow fight broke out, causin g several things to tip over and break, and Bakura to wake up and threaten all three of them. Which was responded to by a pillow being flung at the spirit, and him stalking out of the room towards Kaiba to warn him about his little brother. Joey snickered at the thought of Kaiba's reaction to Bakura's threats before bouncing out of the bed, grinning at his two friends.   
“Let's get moving, I'm starving!!”   
He announced, reaching for his bag to change into clothes for the day, Mokuba and Tristan quickly following suit. Not even 10 minutes later, they met up with the rest of the gang, chattering lively about the upcoming duels. Roland led them towards the dining room, pausing discretely to check in several other rooms for any security breaches.   
Kaiba walked next to him, pretending not to notice his brother still not talking to him. Instead he spoke to Roland, quietly talking about various business issues that still needed to be dealt with.   
Upon approaching the dining room, they all sat in the same places as yesterday, and waited patiently for their host. When he didn't appear, Yugi started to shift nervously in his seat, wondering where the older man could be. Joey's stomach started to growl, and he stood up, rubbing his belly sadly.   
“I'm going to go look in the kitchen. Maybe he's directing them on what to be cooking!”   
He turned to leave, only to be stopped by Croquet's sudden appearance in the door.   
“Please sit down Joseph. We have had a security breach, Master Pegasus is gone. We've searched the entire island, and no one can find him.”   
Tea gasped, buryiing her face in her hands. Tristan slammed his fists down, agitated that someone had once again disappeared from right in front of them. The rest of the group had similar reactions, except for Kaiba, who turned and looked straight at his bodyguards. Roland nodded, picking up his phone and beginning to speak, while Kaiba looked back at the rest of the teens.   
“Mokuba and I are leaving in 20 minutes. Anyone who wants a ride back to Domino will be at the planes by then. Grab something to eat for the way back, I will not sit around here waiting for someone to come take my little brother again.”   
Croquet nodded, looking over at Kemo.   
“Kemo will fly the other plane back to Domino. Please go back to your rooms and pack. I will bring out some fruit and cereal to feed you on your trip.”   
Kaiba had already left, dragging his brother along with him. The rest of the group sat there silently, not knowing what to do. Yami sighed, getting up himself and grabbing Yugi's hand. “We need to leave everyone, it's not safe here. Let's go home.” 

 

The two planes took off less than an hour later. Kaiba was on his cell phone snapping at anyone who would listen to smooth their way back into Domino. Mokuba watched him carefully, arms intertwined with Joey and Tristan's. The three sat there in silence, not wanting to upset the billionaire who was currently in the middle of firing half of his staff. Finally, he got off the phone, hitting the off button with as much force as he could manage.   
“We will be on the ground in a couple of hours. I suggest you all sit down and shut up while I deal with that moron security guard.”   
Kaiba informed them, sitting down himself and crossing his arms. Joey and Tristan exchanged a look over Mokuba's head, not wanting to agitate the pissed off CEO anymore. Finally, they landed. Kaiba's plane hit the tarmac first, taxing to the gate his personal had paid to be open for him. The Industrial Illusions plane followed close behind, and the group once again gathered in the terminal.   
Security was already there, the same guard that had stopped them before standing before them with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Kaiba stepped up to him, ready to start barking at the older man. He shushed Kaiba with one look, not even flinching at the CEO's glare.   
“This is the second time in two days you have interrupted my airport. Give me a reason why I shouldn't call someone and have you all arrested.”   
Roland stepped forward, motioning towards the man to step aside for a minute. The two talked briefly, and Roland broke away walking back towards his boss.   
“We need to go to the next building and do a security profile. It's the only way to keep the cops from getting involved.”   
Kaiba growled, wanting nothing more than to get his brother away from the friendship squad. Instead, he turned on his heel, motioning for the rest of the gang to follow him. 

*********************************************************************

Several hours later, even Yugi was on the edge of his sanity. Endless questions about who they had been with, what they had done, when and why were making the young boy's head spin. Finally, the man left, leaving the whole group in the room. Yugi stretched, looking over at Yami with a soft smile.   
“I hope they let us go soon, Grandpa is probably getting worried.”  
“I know Aibou, I'm sure we will have this all worked out soon enough.”   
Yami patted Yugi's hand, smiling reassuringly at him.  
“I wouldn't be so sure about that.”   
Everyone turned towards the door to see a blond man walking in, smiling at all of them. “What are you doing her dad?”   
Joey shouted, jumping up to attack his father.   
“I don't think so Joseph.”   
With that he waved a hand, and Joey was forced back into his seat, his arms and legs strapped down. Everyone else followed before they could react, and Joey snarled, done with his worthless father.   
“What is this? Are you not man enough to face me you have to tie me down?”   
Joey snarled, attempting to pull himself off of his chair, only gaining new brusies and cuts in the process. The elder Wheeler smiled at his son, enjoying this immensily. He glanced around the table, enjoying the looks of fear and terror he was receiving.   
“Well, now that we have the gang all in one place, it's time to play the rest of the game. You see, my son has been lying to you. It's not surprising, he's been doing it for years. The people who took your friends have been communicating with him, giving him games to play. However, he has failed every one, and that is why we are here.”   
He turned his gaze towards Tristan, smiling at him.   
“You took my son from me. You filled his head with the idea he could have friends, and that he was better than his old man. I took great pleasure in taking your boyfriend from you. After all, he deserved better. You can thank Joseph for that for breaking our rules.”   
Tristan stared at Joey, his brown eyes filling up with rage.   
“You knew why Duke was gone and you didn't tell me? You let your bastard father take him and you said nothing? What kind of person are you?”   
Joey's face fell, staring down at the table while his friends just stared.   
“It doesn't matter Tristan. He would have been gone soon anyway, my boss had no need for him. He wasn't one of the ones we needed. Actually he is quite safe, he's just not in this world anymore.”   
With that the elder Wheeler smiled at the collective group, reaching back for the doorknob. “Now, you all are going to play a little game with me. I heard you all like games.”   
He left the room, hitting the light switch on his way out. The room plunged into darkness, Tea crying out in alarm as she gripped the arms of the chair she was in. As their eyes adjusted, a small hissing sound was heard.  
Bakura had managed to unchain himself and was working on Ryou. Kaiba was almost there, cursing himself for allowing his bodyguards to be interviewed in another room. He pulled his chair as close to his brother's as possible, wanting to be able to protect him from whatever was going to happen next. The hissing got louder, and suddenly Kaiba realized what was going on.   
“Everyone, get down to the floor. They are pumping in gas we need to breath fresh air as long as possible.”   
The sounds of chairs falling over filled the room, even though it was only going to gain them a few seconds at the most. Kaiba tried to think of something else to do, but he was quickly losing consciousness. He managed to reach for his little brother as his eyes closed, wondering what the mutts father had in mind for all of them. 

**************************************************************************

Honey-colored eyes slowly opened, blurred vision not allowing them to realize where they were. Blinking and shaking his head, Joey managed to sit up, holding his head to try to stop the pounding.   
“What the hell is going on?”   
He muttered, trying to look around the dark room. Various groans were heard as his friends began to wake up around him, and before he could even think straight he could hear Kaiba's voice calling for his little brother, who answered quickly. Yugi then started talking, asking after each of them until everyone was present and accounted for.  
“Anybody know where we are?”   
Tristan wondered, slowly getting to his feet and trying to feel around the room they were in. Joey shook his head even if he knew nobody could see it. Kaiba snorted, looking around the dark place himself.   
“Wheeler, when we get out of here, I'm going to hunt down your father and place him in the deepest hole I can find.”   
“You and me both Priest.”   
Bakura added, inching along the room towards his lighter half to try to protect him from whatever was going to happen next. Without warning, a bright light turned on, and the group turned towards it, only to be temporarily blinded. A loud noise pieced through the room, knocking everyone to their knees.  
Mokuba cried out, shutting his eyes tightly to try to keep the tears from falling as he curled into a little ball on the floor. After what seemed like hours the noise stop, and the lights dimmed to a normal level. Everyone slowly uncurled, allowed their sense to adapt yet again. “What the hell is going on?”   
Tristan shouted, turning towards Joey and swinging a punch. The two boys began wrestling on the ground while the rest of the group just stood there watching. Grunts and shouts filled the air, and Bakura used the distraction to check out the room they were in. Glancing over at Ryou, he inched towards the wall, casually feeling for any hidden cracks or doors that he could open.   
“I wouldn't do that if I was you Bakura.”   
A voice rang out through the speakers, making everyone stop and look up. One of the walls flashed and a light turned on, revealing a two-way mirror with a young girl looking over at them. She waved, smiling at all of them. Bakura took off running, trying to get through the mirror to whoever that was. He bounced off, falling on the floor and growling at her.   
“Bakura, what is wrong? Why are you trying to hurt me I though we were friends?”   
She giggled, the sound grating on everyone's nerves.   
“Who are you? Have we met before?”  
Yugi asked, approaching the mirror carefully and staring up at the girl on the other side. “You don't recognize me Yugi? That makes me sad.”   
She pouted, folding her arms and sticking her bottom lip out. Tea stared at her, running through names in her head to place the face. Suddenly it clicked.   
“Miho? Is that you?”   
The girl nodded, smiling at Tea so hard it looked like her face was going to break.   
“Hello Tea, it's nice to see you again! I've missed you!”   
Tea waved back half-heartedly, not sure where this was going. Miho had been a girl in their class for years, and had been Tea's closest female friend. Then Tea met Yugi, and Miho started making other friends. Joey and Tristan had come soon after, and Miho had faded away as the four other teens began to hang out.   
Now she was here, and she had them all trapped somewhere for unknown reasons. Miho's laughs interrupted her thoughts, and she turned back to the girl.   
“Now, I'm sure you all are wondering why you are here and what is going on. You see, in this world, I'm just a classmate. Someone who floats around in the background while you all have   
adventures and save the world. I want more. I want to be your friend again. I want things the way they should be, and that means getting rid of the others that are just in the way anyway.”   
Miho giggled, clapping her hands together in glee, dancing to herself while the group stared at her.   
“Does anyone remember the good times we had in school? Hanging out watching people playing Duel Monsters, passing notes behind the teachers back. We were so close, and soon we will have that all again!”   
Miho giggled again, waving to the group before she disappeared from the room. Nobody spoke for a few minutes, and finally Tea turned to Yugi with her eyebrows raised.   
“I don't remember all of us hanging out at all.”   
She whispered, glancing over at Joey and Tristan. Joey shook his head, while Tristan just blushed, remember one day in particular.   
“I used to have a crush on her, but when I confessed to her, she rejected me. I was really upset, and I remember Joey and Yugi taking me out to Burger World to try to perk me up. Actually, I think that was the day Yugi and I became friends.”   
Yugi nodded, remember that day well. Tristan sank to the ground, wrapping his arms around his legs and hiding his face from everyone.   
“I don't know what the hell is going on here, but I'm finding a way out of here.”   
Kaiba announced, marching over to the wall where Bakura was still trying to find a way out. He watched Bakura work, figuring the thief would be his best way out of here. Mokuba had huddled next to Joey again, talking the blond in hushed turns. Tea and Yugi were attempting to comfort Tristan, while Yami and Ryou stood near-by, sharing worried glances.   
“So, are you ready to accept my terms and be friends with me?”   
Miho asked, appearing back at the window. “What about everyone else? Are we going to get back our friends?”   
Yugi asked, turning his puppy dog eyes on Miho. She turned away, bowing her head sadly. “He said you would ask that. He said when you got your friends back that you would abandon me again. I didn't think he was right, but maybe he was.”   
Miho started to cry, angry tears sliding down her face. Without another word, she slammed her fist down, hitting a hidden button that caused the floor to give away and everyone in the room to disappear from view.


	21. Chapter 21

Tea landed on the grass, Tristan right next to her. A quick glance around made her realize that they were alone, which made her frown.   
“Where's Yugi? Wasn't he right next to us when the floor gave out?”   
She questioned, looking over towards Tristan who shrugged and didn't say anything. Tea looked around again, taking in all of the scenery around her.   
“Hey Tristan, look over there is that... Tuba's growing on the trees?”   
Tristan looked to where his friend was pointing, frowning at the site. Sure enough, the group of trees in front of them were full of tuba's of various shapes and sizes.   
“Look Tea, the trees are made of violins.”   
“The grass looks like flutes... and the sun is a giant drum! Where are we Tristan?”   
“I don't know, but I don't like the looks of this place at all. Let's figure out our piece and go. Hurry!”   
With that the two brunets began to explore the area around them, hoping to find their clue quickly.   
Tea walked by the water, amused at its musical sounds. Random notes floated by, creating new beats and music every second. The sounds were disrupted by the sounds of someone crying, and Tea looked to see a small child, standing only a few feet away looking around and sniffling. Forgetting her original mission, Tea walked over to the child, bending down to speak to her. Large blue eyes looked back, black curls bouncing down her back.   
“What's wrong sweetie? Why are you crying?”   
She asked, reaching out to offer the child her hand.   
“My momma's just had a baby, and she doesn't have time for me and my siblings anymore. All she does is yell at us and tell us to go outside and play.”   
Tea frowned, wondering who could ignore their own child like that.   
“Well, how about if my friend Tristan and I play with you for a bit? We are looking for something, but maybe you can help us!”  
The little girl smiled, nodding enthusiastically at Tea.   
“I can help you! I love playing games!” “Well, my names Tea, what's yours?”   
“I'm Mitsu! I have 5 siblings, Faith, and Dominique, and Reese, and Solan, and the new baby, and I live with my momma and my daddy!”   
“Well Mitsu, it's nice to meet you. How about you let me find my friend and then we can get going? Maybe we can go to your house, I'd love to meet your momma and your siblings.”   
Mitsu nodded, happy to have someone to play with. She followed Tea back down the river's path, to where the brunette had last remembered seeing Tristan. He of course was no where to be found, and Tea frowned.   
“Well, I guess this isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped. Come on Mitsu, we gotta keep looking for my friend. Think of it like a game of hide and seek, just the other person doesn't know we are playing!!”   
Mitsu nodded, scampering ahead to look for Tristan while Tea sighed to herself, wondering where her friend could have gone. 

+++++

Long fingers ran along the outside of the glass, making it hum. The noise make the young male smiled, humming a melody to himself. His emerald eyes looked over at the counter, waiting to see if anyone was coming to check out.   
Of course not, the shop had been empty all day. He stared at the shelves, loaded with dice games and other toys. When he had first opened the game shop he had thought this game was going to take off.   
Duel Monsters had taken a momentary hit after Kaiba Corp announced they were going to stop making new duel systems, and he thought the world was ready for his own invention, Dungeon Dice Monsters. He had taken out a huge loan through a 'private' loan company, with the thought that he would quickly make back the money and pay it off. At first, the sales were great, and he had made every loan payment on time.   
Then, Kaiba Corp swooped in, announcing they had devoloped their own solid vision technology for dueling, and people had flocked back to Duel Monsters, coming to his shop only to demand refunds for products they no longer wanted. His sales tanked, and his creditors had come flocking.   
He managed to hold them off for several weeks, but now the registers were empty and the money was due this afternoon. The raven-haired boy sighed, standing up and staring out the window.   
After only a few minutes, a black car pulled up, a tall man getting out, his blond hair shining in the bright sunlight. He casually looked around, obviously noting there was no one on the street before strolling to the game stores door. The man entered, and wasted no time pulling out a knife and attacking the shop owner, slicing the young boy across the face right under his eye.   
“You'll have the money next time, or you will pay the consequences.”   
With that the attacker left, leaving him collapsed on the floor, shaking. 

++++

After what felt like hours they finally found Tristan, leaning up against a tree staring off into the distance.   
“Tristan! Where have you been, I've been worried sick about you!”   
Tea shouted, grabbing her friend by his trench coat and shaking him violently. Tristan stared at her, not wanted to upset the girl anymore than she already was. Once she had calmed down, Tristan pried her fingers off of him, only then noticing the young girl standing near-by.   
“Who is this?”   
“I'm Mitsu, and Tea and I are playing together right now! Want to join us?”   
Tristan's eyes narrowed as he looked back at Tea, annoyed.  
“I thought we were suppose to be finishing this level so we can save Duke and the others, what the hell have you been doing!”   
“I was, our game was finding you so we could get Mitsu home, maybe she knows the secret to beating this level!”   
With that Tea turned back to the child, indicating that Mitsu should show them the way to her   
house. With that the little girl took off, humming to herself as her two new friends attempted to follow her.   
Once they finally got to Mitsu's house she paused, not sure about inviting the two strangers inside.   
“Let me see what my momma is doing before we go inside, I don't want to wake the baby if its sleeping.”   
Mitsu walked into the house, closing the door behind her firmly. Tristan scoffed at Tea, kicking at the dirt in disgust.   
“So, how is this going to help us find anything Tea? Have you ever played a game before sometimes the side quests aren't worthh your time.”   
“Well, it's a better idea than just blindly walking around in circles isn't it Tristan? I don't know what else to do at this point so I had to come up with something!”   
Tristan opened his mouth to shoot back a response, but before he could a baseball bat came out of no where, smacking him on the back of the head before hitting Tea, causing both of them to fall unconscious on the ground. Mitsu grinned, waving at her momma who had appeared on the front porch with her brothers and sisters. 

++++

Days passed, and the shop got emptier and emptier. Kaiba Corp had taken over the market, and any other game was just considered a cheap knock off. The raven-haired developer of Dungeon Dice monsters hid in his shop, praying that the men who he owned money were to   
busy finding other people to torment. He would never make their payments, even if things would start turning around now.   
Closing his eyes briefly, he calculated how much money he would need to disappear with. He had distant family in the States who would take him in, help him to start over until he could scrape together enough money to pay back what he owed.   
He didn't even pack a suitcase, hoping to avoid calling attention to what he was doing. A few weeks in Tokyo would give him a chance to find a way out. In the meantime, he would be living on the streets while he waited for things to cool down. It wouldn't be his first time begging for scraps, but he would survive.   
He would come back. He would convince someone to finance him for real this time, and his enemies would quake in their boots. For now, he ducked behind the counter as a shadow passed by, sighing in relief as no one entered. Tonight would be the night, there would be no turning back. 

++++

Tristan slowly opened his eyes, shaking his head trying to clear his mind. He was in a small room, triangled shaped with one door and no windows. A single light gave him enough to see by, and he saw Tea lying next to him on the bed, still unconscious. Tristan shook her, frowning when she groaned but didn't wake up.   
Frustrated, Tristan ran his fingers through his hair, only to come back wet with blood. Suddenly remembering how they got in that room in the first place, Tristan ran his hands over his body, checking for other injuries.   
Other than a bandage over the back of his neck, there appeared to be nothing, and Tristan turned his attention to his friend, gently poking at the unconscious girl to check her injuries. He found a few bruises and cuts that were also tended too, but other than that she seemed ok. Tea started to stir, opening her eyes to stare vacantly at Tristan.   
“Ugg, what happened? All I remember is coming to a house with Mitsu, and seeing her mom. Then I woke up here.”   
“Yea, your little friend ambushed us with a baseball bat. Real sweet after we took time out of our day to go help her get home.”   
Tristan growled, slowly getting off the bed to pace the room. Punching the wall, he winced in pain, shaking his hand as it throbbed.   
“Well, I'm sure breaking things is going to help us a lot.”   
Tea muttered, sitting up to let her body adjust to being awake. Confident she wasn't going to fall over, she slid off the bed. Holding on to the wall, she closed her eyes as her head swarmed. Tristan watched her, still holding his hand.   
“While you stand there, I'm going to find a way out of here!”   
He looked around the room, feeling for anything that might break down the door. Tea shuffled around the bed, feeling carefully for any traps that might be lurking. She made it to the door, feeling along the frame for a key.   
Not sensing anything, she stepped back, looking around the room again. After a moment she realized something and smiled.   
“Hey Tristan, did you try maybe just unlocking the door and opening it?”   
Tristan turned towards her, watching as she did just that.   
“Are you kidding me!! We weren't locked in to begin with!”   
“I guess not. That's weird, I wonder what's going on.”   
Tea muttered, looking out in the hallway. Tristan charged past her, running down the hallway. Tea sighed, walking out of the room to look down the hallway herself. Several closed doors were there, and Tea tested the one next to her, noticing it was locked. Tristan came back, having made it down the hallway before realizing Tea wasn't with him.   
“It's completely pitch black past that last door, maybe we should go back and grab that lantern in the room.”   
Tea nodded, turning around to re-enter the room, grabbing the lamp and returning to follow Tristan back down the hallway. After wandering around for a bit, they finally made it up the stairs, into a small living room. Full of toys and clothes, it looked like a small tornado had blown through.   
“This reminds me of what the old woman who lived in a shoe's house must look like.”   
Tea muttered, picking through the mess on the floor. A flash of red caught her eye, and she looked over to the couch, only to see a familiar jacket.  
“Is that, Pegasus's jacket?”   
She asked, pointing over to it. She reached out, pulling the jacket off the pile. Underneath was more items from their missing friends-Duke's headband, Mai's boots, and Marik and Malik's jewelery.   
h “That means they have to be here! Tea, let's head back down to those locked rooms, maybe they are trapped in there somewhere!”   
“Leaving so soon are we?”   
A sweet voice asked, and the two friends turned to see a young woman holding a baby.   
“My daughter told me all about her new friends, it would be rude for you to just leave like this.   
I would hope you have better manners than that.”   
She smiled at them, two rows of pearly while teeth gleaming in the sunlight. The baby in her arms giggled, reaching out to grab her mother's hair. Tristan clenched his fists, not wanting to punch a woman with a baby but wanting answers to his questions.   
“Well, I guess you are as much of a thug as I heard about. What kind of man would even think of raising a hand to a woman, much less a baby!”   
She turned to Tea, shaking her head at her.  
“My dear, you could do better than a man who acts like that towards you. I'll introduce you to my oldest, he knows how to treat a lady like a lady.”   
Tristan and Tea looked at each other, confused. The woman in front of them didn't look much older than them, but she clearly had already had several children. Pictures of them were all over the house, set up in order like stairs. What had this woman wanted with their friends, and where exactly were they.   
“So, you want to know what's going on. Sit down and I'll tell you.”   
Tea and Tristan sat, looking at the woman in anticipation.  
“Your friends were brought to this land to give them a chance at a better life. There was no place for them in your world, so here they came. They stayed here for a few days, then moved on. I would be happy to help you out, if you help me out first.”   
“Anything! Just please, help me find them please! We need them back in our world!”   
Tristan begged, getting down on his knees in front of the woman and bowing profusly.   
“Well, who am I to say no to that face? I will ask you a simple question, and if you give me the correct answer, I will be happy to help you on your journey.”   
She held her daughter out, the baby giggling and waving at Tea and Tristan. Tea reached out, taking the child and holding her close, smiling at the baby.   
“Now, on to my question. My child is 6 months old, and per our customs, she needs to be named. What name should I give this child and why?”   
Tea and Tristan both blanched, not sure how to answer. The baby continued to giggle, her voice floating in the air like a bird's song.   
“What kind of question is that? How are we suppose to know what you should name your baby? We just met you a few minutes ago how about something a little more reasonable?” Tristan ranted, grabbing at his hair in frustration. Tea ignored him, content on holding the baby in her arms. Without warning the child started to cry, and Tea got up, bouncing around as she tried to calm her.   
Walking past a group of pictures, she paused, looking them over carefully. The children were all arranged from oldest to youngest, and their names appeared under their pictures. She kept looking at them, bouncing the baby girl in her arms carefully as she muttered the names under her breath. Suddenly it came to her and she turned around, scaring the almost sleeping baby in her arms.   
“I know what to call this child! It's so simple I can't believe it took me so long!”   
She took the baby back to her mother, turning back to the wall and pointing at each child in turn.   
“Your babys are named with the letters of the Solfege syllables. Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, and the next one is La. Therefore, your baby should have a name that starts with the letters LA. Perhaps Laura? I always thought that was a pretty name.”   
Tea turned back to the woman, smiling at figuring out her riddle. The baby hiccuped, then clapped her hands, pleased with her name. Her mother nodded, standing up and handing Tea a key.   
“This key opens up a room downstairs. There, you will find one you have been looking for. Which one you save is up to you.”   
Tea accepted the key, grabbing Tristan's hand and pulling him back down the stairs to pick a   
door. 

++++

Several weeks of hiding in Tokyo, and he was no closer to finding a way off Japan than before. The day after he left his shop had mysteriously burned down, no doubt by those goons he had borrowed money from.   
That left him with less than nothing, all of his accounts were frozen and he was quickly running out of both time and money. Slumming it on the streets wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was better than being dead. Turning a corner, he didn't even notice he was walking down a bad alleyway until he bumped into another body.   
“Well, if it isn't the little dice boy. How have you been? There's a nice little bounty out on you right now, turns out you owe all the wrong people money.”   
The person he ran into said, and the raven-haired boy looked up to see a member of the local gang standing in front of him.   
“You disappoint me dice boy. I thought you would stay and fight, not run like a little boy. No matter. Our boys are like dogs, running just makes them chase you.”  
The man snapped his fingers, and several more members appeared in the alleyway, leering and smacking their weapons.   
“Now, I'll give you a head start. Good luck Mr. Devlin.” Duke backed away, turning and running back into the street. He took a hard right, running down the road. As he went past a building the door opened, and he stopped. Taking his chances he grabbed the door, running through and shutting it firmly behind him.


	22. Chapter 22

Tea followed Tristan down the stairs to the hallway. She took the key, wondering which door they should choose, and who would be behind the one they picked. Tristan was banging on the doors, trying to get someone on the other side to answer.   
Finally they picked one, and Tea unlocked it, opening the door to pitch darkness. She looked around, fumbling for a light switch. Tristan pushed in behind her, cautiously entering the room as he realized how dark it was. He reached out, feeling a lamp and turning it on, frowning as he realized the room was empty. It was another bedroom, same exact set up as their last one, only this one had doors on all three walls.   
“So, who are we suppose to be saving exactly? There's no one in this room!”   
Tea opened her mouth to reply, when suddenly a body fell onto the bed, groaning.   
“Duke!”   
Tristan yelled, jumping on the bed to pull his boyfriend close. Duke moaned, looking through swollen eyes at the two brunets.   
“Tristan? Tea? Is that you?”   
He asked, blinking tiredly at them.   
“What happened to you? You're covered in bruises!”  
Tristan shouted, clenching his fists. “That woman has a lot of explaining to do!! Wait until I get my hands on her!”   
Tristan ran out of the room, only to run smack into a tree. Tea helped Duke off of the bed, the two following Tristan out into the woods.   
“Wait, wasn't there a hallway here a minute ago? What's going on?”   
Tea asked, looking around confusedly. Where a few minutes ago there had been a long hallway with doors leading to the rest of their friends, now there was an endless stretch of forest, including a tree that Tristan had just face planted into. Tea helped Duke sit down, taking a glance at the extent of his injuries.   
“So, what do we do now?”   
She wondered, looking around at the dense trees surrounding the group. Even the doorway was gone, disappearing without a sound once they all made it through.   
“Oh, I can answer that for you Tea.”   
A voice replied, and Mitsu appeared, giggling at the three teens.   
“I'm here to guide you through this place so you can find your friends!”   
“Well, maybe you can start by telling us what's going on here, and why you tried to have us killed!”  
Mitsu smiled at Tristan, clearly amused by his annoyance.   
“Oh Tristan, I didn't try to have you killed. I was just trying to test you so you can help save your friends! You see, you're not in your world anymore, or even your universe. This-”   
She stopped, gesturing around so they could all see,   
“Is what's known as the Dream Realm. It was where you go in your sleep to visit other lifetimes, as well as other possibilities for your own life. You see, every decision you make affect's the future, and there are endless possibliies of how you will life out your life. Your life is this way because of the decisions you make. Your friend here-”   
She pointed at Duke, who was wincing in pain on the ground  
“has spent some time in another life, where he would never meet all of you. There, Pegasus never met with him to help fund his game shop, because the day he was suppose to run into the billionaire he was side-lined by an accident, and wasn't able to make it to the Gaming Convention.”   
Duke nodded, groaning in pain as his bones ached. Mitsu giggled again, bouncing over to sit in between the two boys.   
“Don't worry Duke, your body is hurting because it's being healed. The longer you spend here, the more you will recover from.the abuse you have suffered. It might hurt quite a bit though!”  
Mitsu hugged the boy, ignoring Tristan's death glare.   
“Now then, you 3 need to make your way up to the castle to get home. Along the way, you will have to pass several more tests, and find all your friends. Head north, and good luck.” Mitsu waved again, disappearing right before their eyes. Tristan growled, annoyed at the little brat who had trapped them.   
“Come on guys, we'd better get moving.”   
Tea suggested, helping both of them off. The trio began to walk, hoping they were going in the right direction. 

********************************************

Platinum blond hair shined as a brush was pulled through it, and a young boy closed his eyes. His back hurt, the symbols that had been burned on it by his father causing him more pain than when they had first appeared. His father's whip was laying nearby, always within eye sight to encourage his children to behave.   
Earlier today, his sister had been late finishing dinner, and their father had been quick to punish her. She was whipped twice, once on the arm and once across her back, then had to stand in the corner bleeding while her two brothers and father ate dinner.   
She wasns't allowed to treat her wound until after they were done eating and she had cleaned the dishes and set the kitchen to rights. Her older brother stood to the side, watchin her even though he had been forbidden to help her. He clutched a bandage and cream, waiting for the second their father would allow him to help her.   
The last dish was put away, and she leaned against the counter, exhausted. Blood dripped on the floor, and her father frowned, but allowed her to sit down and be attended too. The   
older brother knelt down, quickly tying up her wounds.   
Their father left the siblings alone, choosing to go to bed. The youngest watched all this with wide eyes, wondering what his father was going to do next. He crept into his sisters room, cradling her head in his lap as she silently cried herself to sleep.   
She clung to her little brother's hand, and he closed his eyes, vowing to protect her from their father. Days passed, and the young girl developed a fever from her wound staying open to long. She was stuck in bed, eating the table scraps that her two brothers were able to bring her behind their fathers back.   
Finally, she was strong enough to stand up, and she walked towards the kitchen, ready to cook a mean. Her father brushed past her, not even acknowledging that she was alive. Her younger brother was in the kitchen, and he ran to her, wrapping his arms around her in joy. He looked past her towards their fathers back, and something in the back of his mind triggered. 

********************************

After what semed like hours, they came upon a small clearing, checking around before they entered it. Tristant hear someone talking in the distance, and he peered around only snicker at the sight before him. Kaiba and Bakura, standing toe-to-toe yelling insults at each other. “Listen here you worthless theif. I am your better, and you will bow to me!”   
“Good luck with that Priest, I'd like to see you make me!!”   
Bakura shouted, pushing into Kaiba yet again. Tristan rolled his eyes, stepping out from behind the tree.   
“What are you guys fighting about?”   
He asked, causing both the boys to look over at him.   
“Taylor! Is Mokuba with you?”  
“What about Ryou? Have you seen him?”   
Both boys asked at once, causing Tristan to back up holding up his hands.   
“Sorry guys, I haven't seen either one of them. I only have Tea and Duke with me. Is it just you two here?”   
“Yes, and we've been wandering these woods for hours, for some reason this theif can't figure out where he is going!”   
Kaiba snarled, swinging once again for Bakura's head.   
“Can't you boys get along for even a few minutes? We are in the middle of a game here, maybe you should pay attention!!!”   
Tea snapped, grabbing Bakura by the ear and pulling him up. Bakura snarled at her, pushing the girl away from him as he walked away. Tea went to call after him, stopping when something pinched her.   
She touched her neck to find a dart, realizing that it was tipped with something as she passed out, along with the others. 

***************************************************

Weeks later, he sat in his room, attempting to get some piece and quiet. The voice in the back of his head was getting stronger, and he was having a hard time quieting it down. He tried to slow it by studying and ignoring his father, but everytime the man came into his room, the voice got even louder.   
It whispered to him, telling him he needed to claim power for himself and leave his family behind. Living underground was not his destiny, and he needed to claim his real one before someone tried to stop him. The young boy tried not to listen, but it was hard not too, when his back hurt and his siblings were being abused because of him.   
He fiddled with the book, wondering what he was going to have to do to change his destiny, and that of his siblings.   
Finally, one day his sister approached him, suggesting they take a trip outside. He giggled in excitement, not knowing that this day was going to change his life. The two younger siblings slipped out of the house, leaving their older brother to cover their tracks. They walked the streets, admiring the different vendors and things for sale. They bought lunch from one, walking along the Nile as they ate.   
They watched the birds fly by, and he squealed in surprise as a hippo appeared out of the water, rolling around before disappearing again. He pulled away from his sister, running towards the edge so he could see the animal closer. Hands grabbed him, and he looked up to see blond bangs in the mans eyes.   
“Your sister is not here to protect you little one... perhaps you would like to go for a swim?” He felt himself flying, and he hit the water hard, luckily in a shallow enough part that he could stand up.   
The man was gone, disappearing as quickly as he appeared. The boy was shaking, crying out for his sister as she ran towards him, reaching to pluck him out of the water. She hugged her brother, keeping him close as she looked around for the person who had done this.   
Seeing nothing, she took her brothers hand, running towards their home as quickly as she could, hoping their father would not realize they had left.

***************************

Bakura opened his eyes, only to find himself strapped to a tree, looking towards a giant scale. 12 rocks were sitting before it, shining in the afternoon light.   
“What the hell is going on?”   
He muttered, looking around the area. A young girl was playing on the scales, bouncing back and forth as they swung up and down. She was singing to herself, not noticing Bakura watching her. After a while she got bored, jumping off the scales to pat the rocks. She turned, noticing Bakura watching her and giggled, waving at the spirit.  
“You must be Bakura! I'm Mitsu, I'm friends with your friends so that means we can be friends also!!! Since you are the first one awake, you get to play my next game all by yourself. One of these rocks has a surprise in it, and it's up to you to find it. I have 12 rocks, and a scale. One of these rocks contains a treasure, which makes it heavier than the others. You have three chances to figure out which rock it is. You cannot touch them, but I will move whichever rocks you wish, just call out the numbers you want on the scale.”   
Mitsu walked over to the rocks, crossing her arms as she waited impatiently for Bakura to bark out instructions. Bakura smiled, remembering this riddle from when he was a child. His mother taught him logically thinking, which helped him to defeat his many enemies and survive on the streets of Egypt as a child.   
“This is easy. First, divide the rocks on the scales, 6 on each side.”   
Mitsu did as she was told, placing the rocks on the scales. One tipped slightly more, and Bakura smiled.  
“Take off the rocks that are on the higher side, then move 4,8, and 12 onto it.”   
Mitsu did so, causing the scales to adjust again.   
“Finally, take off the rocks that are on the higher side, along with rock 12. Put rock 4 back on the right, and keep rock 8 where it is.”   
Bakura watched as the scales tipped one last time, giving him his answer.   
“Rock 8 has the treasure in it, I'm sure of it.”   
Mitus grabbed the rock, placing it down in front of Bakura and opening it, but it was empty. Bakura frowned, knowing he didn't mess up the riddle and not understanding what was going on while Mitsu just smiled.

*******************************************

The hope that their father was sleeping was not the case. Almost as soon as they entered the sound of the whip cracking filled the air, its tip finding the back of their older brothers back. Both cried out, begging their father to stop. He responded by swinging at his daughter, causing her to hit the floor, passing out from hitting her head.   
He turned to his youngest, intent on punishing him next when he was stopped. His son pulled the whip out of his hands while he stood there staring, watching as some other being took over his child. This other person took the Rod, pulling out the dagger and approached him, smiling while he stabbed his hosts' father over and over again.  
He then turned towards the other siblings, intent on destroying them. However, before he could approach either of them, a portal appeared, and a giant hand came through it, grabbing Marik before he could finish the job.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: I edited the heck out of this because it kept dragging. Too much relationship drama! I hope you all enoy.

 

Bakura's eyes widened as Mitsu pulled Malik out of the rock by his hair. The Egyptian sputtered, looking around in confusion as he tried to figure out where he was. Mitsu giggled, enjoying the perplexed looks on both the boys faces.  
“Well, I'll leave you two to catch up. I know you haven't seen each other in a while.”   
With that she waved her arm, releasing Bakura, Tristan, Tea, Duke and Kaiba from their trees so they all fell on their faces. Blowing kisses, she turned to leave before stopping.   
“Oh, I almost forgot.”   
She winked at Malik before reaching back down and pulling out Marik, covered in blood and shaking violently. She waved and disappeared before anyone could stop her. Tristan groaned and rubbed his head, not knowing what was going on.   
“Are we home yet? I want to get a pizza..”   
He muttered, looking around at the woods. Duke wrapped himself around his boyfriend, burying his head on the brunets shoulder. Tristan hugged him back, ignoring the stares from his friends as he comforted the one person he though he'd never see again. Kaiba snorted, breaking them up as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.  
“Can we get going now? I need to find Mokuba and get out of this ridiculous place.”   
“Do you even know where you are going Kaiba?”   
Tea inquired, looking the pissed off CEO over carefully, a small smile on her lips.   
“If he doesn't, I do.”   
A voice interrupted, and they all turned to see Yami, grinning widely while Ryou clung to his arm apprehensively. They approached the group carefully, Ryou limping slightly but trying to hide it. Bakura ran over to his hikari, worried that he was seriously injured. Ryou pushed him away, reaching instead for his girlfriend who kissed him quickly, grateful he was back.  
Yami leaned Ryou against a tree, shaking his head at Bakura and gesturing for him to leave the boy alone. Bakura frowned, stomping over to flop on the ground next to Marik, who hadn't moved since he had appeared.   
Yami came over a few minutes later, dragging Malik over. He sat down next to the other darks, Malik using his body to keep away from Marik.   
“I have my powers back.”  
Yami announced, looking at the other two.   
“When Ryou and I were walking in the woods, I could feel my energies returning. Whatever this place is, it has some sort of powers with it. I had to sit down for a moment because I got so dizzy. Ryou turned to help me, and he tripped over this.”   
Yami indicated the bag he was holding, which he opened to reveal the Puzzle, Rod, and Ring. Bakura and Marik both reached for their items, cuddling them close. The old feelings of power began to take over, and the Thief and Tomb Keeper took off into the woods without another word.   
“Well that went over well.”   
Ryou announced, smiling at Yami as he limped over.  
“Yea, i'm thinking that wasn't my best idea.”   
Yami muttered, sighing to himself. He looked Ryou over, happy to see that he wasn't in much pain.   
“Well, we still need to head North, so let's get gong!”   
With that the remainder of the group took off, hoping to find the correct path. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Holding his new brides hand was the most exhillariting feeling in the young billionaires life. It topped the time he earned his first million, the first painting he sold, even his first kiss. The young man had lived a charmed life, but it paled in comparasion to his bride, her beautiful blonde hair billioning around her as she danced, smiling at her silver-haired husband.   
His heart lost a beat, and he could only stare at her beauty, as every other male in the room. This gorgeious creature was all his, and he vowed right there and then to make her happy, every day until they both died.   
That night was amazing, and the weeks that followed even more so. He took to painting his wife everyday, wanting to capture her in every light and every position. His planned a new exhibit, filled with pictures of then and their life together.   
Every weekend spent in different cities, exploring the new cultures and eating exhotic foods with names they couldn't even pronounce. His company was flourishing, introducting hundreds of new games based on the couples experiences.   
Then one day, everything changed. They were eating dinner in Paris, at a beautiful sidewalk cafe. The sidewalk was full, tourists gawking at the sights while the locals moved pass them, heading for their destinations.   
Someone bumped their table, and he looked to see a blond man walking past carrying a bookbag. He frowned, annoyed at the others rude behavior when his wife grabbed his hand. Looking over, he was completely shocked when she made the announcment.   
A child was going to be born, a product of their undying love and devotion. He looked at her, overwhelmed with love as he kissed his wife, declaring he would be right back.   
Down the street he went, intending to buy a gift at one of the shops to show his love and thanks to the woman who would bare his child. He never made it. The explosion threw him to the ground, shards of glass all around him. The building next to the cafe had been hit, and   
the shrapnel flew in all directions, taking out everyone in its path.   
He laid their for a moment, in utter shock and disbelief. Debris flew around him, and he shut his eyes, trying to shut out what was happening. Suddenly, images of his wife and unborn child flashed before him, making him get up on his shaky legs. He ran back down the street, ignoring the cries of the injuried as he got back to the cafe.   
The roof had fallen, right on the tables that he had been sitting at with his wife only moments ago. Others were attempting to lift the giant piece, hearing people crying underneath. He grabbed a part, helping to lift while more people showed up, reaching in to grab at hands to pull people out. He searched in vain for his wife, not seeing her beautiful hair draped in someones arms.   
Then, a miracle happened. She was there, lying on the sidewalk looking at him. Her hair, once blonde and curly, was covered in blood, turning a deep red color. He yelled her name, dropping his part of the roof as he went to her, cradling her body in his lap. She didn't respond, eyes wide as she took in all the trauma and fear around her.   
“My love. Please, help me. I need you to come back to me. Please darling, please. Stay strong for me, for our baby.”   
His voice trailed off as her eyes closed, and he sobbed, holding her broken body as he wailed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After what seemed like hours, they finally left the woods. When they past the last tree, they were surprised to see Marik and Bakura already there, staring out over the hill. Both had their items clenched in their hands, and Yami joined them, his puzzle starting to glow as it got near them.   
The three darks looked out, seeing the dark clouds surrounding the castle they were heading too. Kaiba stood back watching them, arms crossed as he looked around in vain for his little brother.   
“Are we going to stand here all day or are we going to get this over with? Mokuba is still out there, and I'd like to find him before something else happens to him.”   
The CEO snarled, marching down the hill before anyone could answer. Yami sighed, following his cousin with a wink back at the group. Tristan and Tea offered Ryou their shoulders, worried that he might re injure himself on the steep hill.   
The other three just followed, Bakura walking in between the two Tomb Keepers silently. As they approached the castle, they realized they were being blocked by a familiar mop of blond hair.   
“It's Joey's father!”   
Tristan shouted, moving to jump the older man when Yami stopped him. The older blond laughed, looking over at the group of friends with a smirk.  
“Well well well, the gangs almost here. I take it you haven't found my pathetic excuse for a son yet huh?”   
John laughed, enjoying the torment his son's friends were going through. Yami frowned at him, feeling the tingling sensation he used to get when he was surrounded by pure evil. “What have you done with them! I want my friends back here this instant!”   
Yami bellowed, staring straight at the older man with his eyes wide opened and arms crossed, leaving no room for discussions. John shook his head, amazed at the young mans arrogance.   
“I don't have to do anything. You all are in my world now, and I think I'm going to let you stay there.”   
“What if I was to offer you a trade? We play a game, if I win, you release my friends. If you win, I'll give you your son.”   
Yami offered, smiling coolly back at the older man. John pretended to think it over, before nodding.   
“What kind of game are you thinking of?”   
He asked, watching as Yami produced a bottle and several small glasses from his bag. He placed them on the ground, pouring a drink into each glass. Then, he pulled out several marbles, dumping one into each cup.   
“Now, these marbles are special. They each contain a name, which will appear once the liquid is consumed. Whoever finds the glass with Joey's name in it wins. Simple as that. Now, you may mix the glasses up however you like, but don't spill any liquid, or you will face a penalty game.”  
With that Yami waggled his finger in John's face before turning away, allowing the older man to shuffle the glasses around. Finally, the two sat on the ground, Yami indicating that John should go first. He did, grabbing a glass and drinking it, revealing a name at the bottom. 'Yugi.' John frowned, annoyed that he didn't win. Yami went next, finding Pegasus's name. John grabbed the next one, only to reveal Tea's name.   
The rounds continued, neither one finding the right name until they got down to two cups. John was next, and he knew that if he didn't pick the right one, he wouldn't win. He reached for a cup, then thought better of it and tapped it with his hand, causing the liquid to spill, revealing the name Joey. John smiled, pointing at the cup excitedly.   
“I guess I won this one, now where is my son?”  
Yami smirked, envying the power that was pulsing through his veins.   
“I believe the rules were you had to consume the alcohol, not spill it. Since you couldn't follow them, you don't win. Now give me back my friends.”   
John sighed, looking around in annoyance. He produced a key, giving it to Yami.   
“When you go in the castle, use this to open the first door on your right. There, you'll find one you've been seeking.”   
Yami accepted the key, placing it in his pocket.   
“Now that I have collected my winnings, I believe there is one more thing we need to do. I told you there would be consequences for cheating, and now it's time to pay. MIND CRUSH!” He yelled out, watching as the older male fell to the ground, lifeless.


	24. Chapter 24

Yami reached over Joey's father to grab the key out of his lifeless hand. The polished silver shined in the sunlight, and Yami couldn't help but admire it. Suddenly remembering his mission, he took off up the stairs, followed by the rest of the group.   
The front door was ajar, and he pushed it the rest of the way, quickly finding the door he needed. Putting the key in the lock, he opened the door, only to see nothing. Enraged, he entered, looking for any sign that somebody had been there.   
Soft moaning caught his ear, and he turned towards the closet only to see Pegasus laying there, covered in cuts and bruises. Most of them were tended too, as evident by the various supplies lying around him. Yami knelt down next to him, trying to rouse the older man. Kaiba appeared next to him, pushing Yami out of the way to grab Pegasus.   
“Where is my brother?”  
He sneered, looking over the man himself.   
“Big Brother!”   
Mokuba interrupted, running into the room. He jumped on Kaiba, causing him to fall over in surprise onto Yami. Yugi stood behind them giggling while Joey hovered in the doorway, looking apprehensive while he held a tray of medical supplies.   
The rest of the gang was in the hall, having already seen and hugged the 3 newcomers. Mokuba finally got up, motioning Joey over so they could continue helping Pegasus.   
“What happened to him?”   
Yami asked, looking over the mans body critically.   
“We don't know. We've been trapped in this house looking for clues for days. When we walked past this room, we heard a loud explosion, and when we opened the door, it was filled with smoke and Pegasus was laying in the middle of it, unconscious.”   
Yugi stated, squating down to help hand Mokuba supplies.   
“So you've been taking care of him? Why?”   
Kaiba yelled, annoyed that his brother was helping save the man who had caused them so much grief.   
“We need him Seto, we still need to find and save Mai, and he can help us. If you haven't noticed, this place is laid out just like his castle, which means he knows every path way in here. We have to help him!”   
Kaiba snorted, even though he knew full well they wouldn't get out of there without finding everyone. Mokuba smiled, finishing patching the last wound on Pegasus's shoulder. The older man mumbled his thanks, slowing opening his eyes as the pain began to subside. He slowly sat up, allowing Joey to help him out of the closet.  
“Thank you Joseph. I'm feeling like a new man right now.”   
Pegasus smiled at all of them, wincing at the pain in his right rib.   
“So, what's next on our little journey? I see that Ms. Valentine is not here, I take it we still need to find her?”  
Joey nodded, bouncing on his toes in an attempt to keep himself from screaming.   
“We thought you might know where to go next. From what the three of us saw, this place is set up just like your castle. Since this is just another game, where would you go to have your final battle?”   
Pegasus frowned, closing his eyes as he pictured the layout of his house. His eyes snapped open, a smile covering his face.   
“I know exactly where we should go.” 

FJDKSLFJDSLKJFLSSJFDKLS

Loud party music came out of the speakers and the lights began to dim. Groups of people began to whoop and relax, sitting down with their drinks and food. The stage lit up, revealing a light blue curtain. A young woman came out, strutting towards the middle of the stage and looked over at the middle table.   
Flipping back her hair, she turned towards the curtain, hands on her hips as she prepared herself. The first strands of the next song started, and her fake smile came on her face and she turned towards the audience, beginning to dance as the crowd cheered. She just kept on going, refusing to look at anyone, looking over all their heads while her clothes slowly started to come off.   
More girls came on next, with several boys mixed in for others viewing pleasure. Finally, the night was almost over. The MC came up, smiling at the crowd.   
“It's time for our final act. Our mistress of the night, the woman who can make any man fall to his knees... Ms. Leigh!”   
The MC walked off the stage, and the crowd went nuts, cheering and whooping for the final act to begin. Finally, they calmed down, only to start again as the spotlight turned on, focusing on the middle of the stage.   
A long, slim leg poked out through the curtain, and soft music began to play. The curtain parted again, to reveal a voluptuous blonde wearing a dark purple dress. The front was cut down almost to her belly button, the slit up the side coming to her hip.   
High heels clicked on the stage, and her lavender eyes looked confidently out at the crowd. She paused for a minute, allowing everyone to gaze at her outfit before she started to sing.  
“As you desire me, so shall I come to you”  
She winked at a man in the audience who turned bright red, his friends ribbing him good naturely.   
“Howe'er you wander, so shall I be,”   
She strutted across the stage, turning slowly so the audience could take in her entire body.  
“Be it forever, or be it just a day,”   
She began to walk down the run way, reaching the end as she continued to sing.  
“As you desire me, come what may.”   
She reached the end, bending down to look at the man sitting at the table in front of her.  
“I doubt not but you will do what you will with me,”   
The man at the table offered his hand, and she accepted, stepping off the stage gracefully.  
“I give my life to you 'cause you're my destiny.”   
She walked over to another table, gently rubbing her fingers down one mans arm while she smiled coyly at another.  
“And now, come take me, my soul is yours.”   
She pulled a cloth out of her dress and tossed it on a table, smiling as the men there began to fight over it.   
“As you desire me, I come to you.”   
Hands on her hips, she strutted towards the middle table, eyes on one man in particular.   
“And now, come take me, my very soul is yours,”   
She approached the blond at the table, smiling encouragingly at him as she leaned over at him.  
“As you desire me, I come to you.”   
She slid onto his lap, taking off his top hat and placing it on her own head.   
“As you desire me, I come to you.”   
The song finished, she beamed at the man who's lap she was on as the crowd started to cheer again. His blond hair covered most of his face, his darkening honey eyes stared down her body as he smiled at her.  
JDSKFLSJFKSDLFJJSFLK

Pegasus slowly walked towards his grand ballroom, leading the group down a maze of hallways. His pride wouldn't allow him to limp, making the journey even longer. He masked his pain by playing tour guide, telling the group stories about his own castle when they reached the corresponding rooms.   
Tea was fascinated, asking all kinds of questions about Pegasus's ancestors and their trials. Yugi also listened politely, popping in his own questions while Yami held his hand. Joey walked with Mokuba, the two boys talking in low whispers, only stopping to eye Kaiba, who was growling and mumbling under his breath about having to follow a maniac.   
Tristan and Duke were helping Ryou and Malik keep their Yami's under control, the two spirits kept trying to disappear into different rooms to check them out.   
Ryou finally got annoyed with constantly chasing down Bakura, and he marched up and grabbed Tea's hand, ignoring his darker half as he too began listening to Pegasus's stories. Finally they approached a door, and Pegasus paused, looking back at the group.   
“This is the main ballroom for the castle. Generations ago, my Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather built this room to please his wife, who had been married off to him by her family for protection. She loved to dance, and she would spend hours in this room spinning around and practicing her moves. She died after giving birth to twins, and this room was sealed for many years until I met my own lady love, who loved to dance as well.”   
Pegasus stopped, looking at the door sadly as he remembered the wife he had loved and lost so quickly and so violently. He took a deep breath, and opened up the door, standing aside to allow the rest of the group in. The room was filled with candles already light, the dancing flames casting shadows on the wall as the group walked through.   
“Be careful everyone, this is obviously a trap. Don't knock anything over.”   
Warned Yami, looking around him carefully as he held Yugi close to him.   
“How about we spread out and try to search around? Maybe we can find Mai and get out of here!”   
Ryou suggested, looking over at the paintings on the wall.   
“Pegasus, do you know who any of these people are?”   
Pegasus stared at the paintings, studying them carefully.   
“These are not the same ones as in my castle, I am not sure who any of them are.”   
Pegasus said, searching the paintings once again.   
“Hey this one kinda looks like Miho, except her hair is a different color and her face is shaped a little different.”   
Bakura said, pointing at one before continuing.   
“This one looks like Kaiba, and this one Mokuba, just a little different face shape and hair as well.”   
“How can you tell? I can barely see what the paintings look like, let alone see who they could be?”   
Yami asked, stepping closer to Bakura.   
“This one has Kaiba's jaw line, and his permanet frown. You get good at memorizing facings in different lights when you spend all your time on the run like I did when I lived in Egypt.”   
Bakura shrugged, dismissing his past with the motion as if it meant nothing. Kaiba approached the painting as well, finding Bakura's analysis to be annoyingly accurate.   
“Hey guys, come check this out.”   
Tristan interrupted, waving them over.   
“The candles are set up in a maze pattern, and they don't light up until you reach a certain point. Watch.”   
Tristant began to walk slowly, disappearing into the darkness until suddenly showing up in a burst of light about 10 feet away.   
“They're not here to light our way, they are here to stop us from going certain ways. Duke figured it out, and he almost lost half his face when he hit the first candle!”   
Duke frowned, running his fingers through his hair as if checking to make sure it was actually still there. Tristan punched him, before wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and kissing him, glad that Duke was safe and with him.   
“Alright, so let's see if we can follow the candles carefully to where they lead us, without burning our faces off!”  
Joey suggested, pushing Mokuba towards his brother before taking the lead himself, using a napkin he had found to brush back his hair so it wouldn't catch fire. 

JFKSLJFKSLJFJDSK

The blonde woman laid on a bed, eyes closed as she tried to slow her breathing. This was the part of the job she hated, pretending to enjoy while men she didn't know touched her. This man was no different, he came to her dances twice a week and watched her, with a smoldering intensity that made her hair stand on its ends.   
Finally, that night he had approached her manager, and bargained a price for her, so high that she had been warned about what would happen if she didn't please him. The thought of being alone with him made her shudder, yet there was little she could do about it. The years of abuse rained down on her, making her unable to fight her current predicament anymore. Instead she waited, sitting on the bed wearing only her see-through bra and panty set.   
Finally she heard the door opened, and he entered, looking down on her with a smile. She smiled back, swallowing down her vomit as he began to kiss her, running his hands up and down her body, pausing only long enough to say   
“Call me Joey.” 

DJFKSLJDKFSDJFKL

A harsh giggling noise began to fill the room as the group kept walking, taking turns bumping into candles to set them off. None of them could pin point the location of the voice, but they all knew it was Miho, getting pleasure out of them wandering around looking for her. Finally she spoke, obviously bored.   
“You guys are taking forever. I've been waiting here for hours. So has Mai, she wants to go home so bad, but none of you will come save her. Guess the two of us are more alike then I knew.”   
Miho taunted them, enjoying how Joey's fists clenched at Mai's name. She sighed, playing with the light switch next to her.   
“You know what? This is taking forever and I'm bored. I'm gonna let you guys cheat a little so we can finish this game and all go back home!”   
With that she flipped the switch, lighting all the candles so the group could see their way around.   
“Now, take two rights, a left, go straight, another right, and two lefts to get out of the maze. I'll meet you by the stage.”   
Yami committed the directions to memory before starting to lead the group away. Finally, they made it out, each one stretching as they observed their surroundings.   
“We're back where we standing from.”   
Pegasus observed, pointing at the doors.   
“Those are the only two doors in here painted white on both sides. Cecila had wanted them to be special, so everyone knew where the grand entrance was.”  
Kaiba rolled his eyes, snorting to himself as his brother dug an elbow into his side. Kaiba glared at him, Mokuba meeting his gaze head on. Kaiba sighed, looking away from his brothers intense look.   
“You guys finally made it! Welcome to the boss level!!”  
They all looked towards the voice to see Miho standing on a viewing platform, waving and bouncing around.   
“Well, I see you all found each other, isn't that nice? Too bad you guys are going to be separated again soon when we leave them behind!”   
“That's enough Miho! What happened to you? We used to be such great friends then you didn't want anything to do with me... and now it's my fault. Come down here so you and I can fight this out woman to woman I'm sick of you threatening my friends.”   
Tea spat, clenching her fists and waving them at Miho.   
“I don't think so Tea, you wouldn't want to hurt her, after all she's just a puppet working for her master.”   
A new voice rang out, and they are stared as someone appeared behind Miho's shoulder and pushed her over.   
“Miho!”   
Yami yelled, rushing over to where she had fallen only to find nothing. The figure started to laugh, enjoying their confused expressions.   
“Don't worry Pharaoh, she was never really here. I just used my Solid Vision technology to create a duplicate of her so none of you would guess my true identity.”   
“Solid Vision technology? The only person who has the right to use that is my big brother, and he would never use it to make a replica of someone to harm them! Right Seto?”   
Mokuba asked, looking worridly over at his brother. Kaiba nodded, not taking his eyes off the figure on the platform.   
“Don't whine so much Mokuba, it's annoying. You always were such a child, that's why you'll never be my Vice President.”  
The figure stated, moving more into the light to revel himself.  
“Kaiba!”

JSDKFLJSFJSKJFLJSJ

She kept her eyes closed as he touched her body, taking the time to touch every single part of her. She was going to have to take an hour long shower after this, hopefully the hot water was working back at her place.   
Joey was kissing her, the smell of booze and cigarettes making her gag. He got up, unzipping his pants and grinning, getting ready to finish. Suddenly, a light filled the room, and Joey fell over, not breathing as she stared at him.   
Realizing this was her only chance, she grabbed her clothes before running out the door and not looking back.

SHDSHJKHSJHDKSH

The Kaiba look alike smiled eerily down on them, looking around at their shocked faces.   
“Well, well, well, the gangs almost all here. All we are missing is that annoying blonde woman. What's her name? Mel, Meg, Maple, something like that.”   
He smiled at Joey, enjoying how the blonde freaked out as he continued to list names.   
“Oh well, she'll be here soon enough. In fact, I think I hear here coming right now.”   
He pointed at a door, which opened to reveal Mai, standing in the doorway beaten and shaking, rubbing her hands over her pregnant belly. 

A/N: One more chapter and an epilogue to go. I've posted a companion piece about Joey and Mai's first time. It's my first time trying out a M-rated fic, so please read and review.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Well this chapter took forever to write, mostly because I kept having to edit it. But it's done, and only the epilogue will be left. I don't have much medical knowledge, so please forgive any mistakes that might be made... and the timing might be a little fuzzy but not by much. Thank you so much for everyone who has stuck with me through all of this!!

 

Her clothes were shreds and her hair was in knots so tight that it would be impossible to get out, but there was Mai, standing in front of the group after being gone so long. Tristan kept an iron grip on Joey, knowing his buddy wanted to run over to her but unsure if this was a trap. The group just stood there, unsure of what to do.   
“Goodness, do none of you know how to treat a lady? Really, I should have spent less time dueling you and more time teacher you all manners.”   
Pegasus announced, stepping forward to offer his hand to the blonde woman. Mai stepped forward, allowing Pegasus to take her hand and walk her back to her friends. Tea was the first one to hug Mai, tears spilling down her cheeks as Mai barely even responded to her. Yugi approached both of them, his fist clenched as he stared at the bruised blonde.   
“Who are you, and why are you doing this to my friends!”   
He shouted, looking over to the Kaiba look alike with rage in his eyes.   
“I'm not here to talk to you, pipsqueak. I'm here for him.”   
The man replied, pointing right at Yami calmly.   
“You beat me in a duel and took half of my soul, did you not think I would come back for revenge?” He said, running his fingers through his green hair and grinning. Yami shook his head, unsure of what he was talking about.   
“I've never seen you in my life, I don't know what you are talking about.”   
“Let me refresh your memory then. One day, I realized that you had the one thing I needed... the fourth Blue Eyes to complete my collection. That card belonged to me and me alone, and no one was going to use it against me! I stole it from your Grandpa, and we dueled, ending in a tie.”   
Kaiba's head snapped up, listening to the other mans words. As much as he hated to admit it, no duel he had ever been in with Yugi or Yami had ended in a tie. All of them had ended with him being the loser, except for the one time he had threatened to kill himself in order to win.   
Yami too looked confused, not understanding the story that was being told to him at all. The look-alike continued to talk, rambling about trying to defeat Yugi with various challenges and how everyone in his life including Mokuba had failed him in his quest for revenge.   
“Then, finally, it was my chance. You had reached the top of my greatest challenge, the Death-T 5. We played a game of Duel Monsters, me fighting to destroy you and you, well you were fighting for your pathetic friends who had followed you. I drew my last card, and summoned my third Blue Eyes, and it appeared on the floor, breathing heavily as it stared down at you. All that was needed was for you to draw your last pathetic card, and I would win, and no one would challenge me again. Then you drew, and my world stopped. Exodia, how was it possible? No one had ever managed to summon him before and you, an amateur, not only had all 5 cards in his deck but he managed to use them correctly?”   
“Hold on a second, that's not how it happened at all. Yes, we did duel and I did summon Exodia, but there was no 'Death-T' or whatever you want to call it. We just dueled and when you lost I wanted to give you a chance at getting your life back together so I-”   
Yami stopped short, realizing at last who it was they were dealing with.   
“That's right other Yugi, I am the real Kaiba, his dark half that you sent to the Shadow Realm when you defeated him in that duel. You can call me Seto, so your small minds won't get us confused. ”   
Pegasus blinked in surprise, pursing his lips so he wouldn't laugh and ruin the mood. Kaiba did laugh, snorting as he almost fell over himself.   
“You're trying to tell me I'm suppose to believe that you're me? A darker half of my soul that came back for revenge by kidnapping people I don't even care about? What did you think was going to happen?”   
Seto smiled, casually approaching the group.   
“Well, you might question my existence Kaiba, but I am right here in front of you. I'm not a hologram, I'm not a hallucination, I'm real. I'm the you you could have been, if you weren't so worried about what other people think about you. I don't let emotions get in the way of what I want, and right now that's destroying all of you.”   
He laughed, walking through the crowd towards Mokuba. Kaiba tried to stop him, but he seemed frozen in place, unable to stop the other man from getting near his brother.   
“Seems you need a little stiffening up Mokuba. I'm not as kind-hearted as your brother, and you need to learn how to take down your rivals.”   
Mokuba backed up, looking back and forth between the two versions of his brother. Seto smiled, stopping short of the younger boy before turning and looking over at Yami.   
“Are you ready for our duel Other Yugi? Or shall we continue babbling while everyone stands around watching. It really does not matter to me.”  
A fist came out of no where, clocking Seto in the eye. Joey took the element of surprise and began swinging, unleashing all his fury at the man who had taken his friends away and hurt them. No one moved, watching the two wrestle on the ground.   
Seto gained the upper hand in minutes, flipping the blond over hard on his back. Tristan came next, only to be thrown into the air and hitting the ground hard. Before anyone else could attack, Seto waved his hand, causing the room to plunge into complete darkness.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

When the lights came back on, Joey slowly got up, looking around the room apprehensively. Yugi, Yami, Ryou, and Bakura were the only ones left, along with Mai, who was leaning up against the wall rubbing her belly.  
He crawled over to her, only wanting to comfort the woman he loved after the ordeal she had been through. He placed his head in her lap, closing his eyes as he breathed in the scent of her. Yugi was the first to speak, looking around the room carefully.   
“Guys, where are we? This isn't the room we were last in.”   
The rest of the group looked around, noticing the blank walls in the room.   
“This looks like a studio apartment, or maybe a hotel room. There's a bed and a couch with a small kitchen right over here.”  
Yugi pointed out, confused as to what was going on. Bakura got up, walking around the room himself.   
“This is the layout of the rooms in the hotel Kaiba Corp is building next to the hospital. Everything in them is wheelchair accessible, that's why there is so much room around the bed and the bathroom. We are back in Domino, or at least, some version of it.”   
Joey sat up, grabbing Mai's hands to help her up also.   
“If we are back in Domino, we should go over to the hospital so Mai can get checked out.”   
Mai faltered as she stood, and Ryou immediate walked over to help Joey with her. Yami and Yugi took the lead while Bakura stood behind, looking around for any signs of danger. The group walked out of the room, making their way to the staircase at the end of the hall.   
Yami opened the door, searching the area to make sure no one was there. He nodded to Yugi, who guided the rest of the group down the stairwell. They moved slowly, making sure not to tire Mai out. It took only a few minutes to get down the stairs, but it seemed like forever.   
Once they made it down, the hallway took them to the entertainment room, where one day the siblings of sick kids would be able to hang out and vent their frustrations of what their family was going through.   
Right now, it contained a few couches and a table, as well as a green-haired man sitting calmly on an office chair, hands folded. Yami growled at him, looking back at Joey and Ryou.   
“Get out of here, and take Mai with you. Bakura and I will deal with this. Yugi, you stay with them and help protect Mai.”   
The three boys nodded, circling around Mai as they began to move again. Yami watched silently as the door shut behind them, hoping that they would make it to the Emergency Room in time. Seto let them go, smiling to himself.   
“I take it you know where we are.”   
He got up, starting to pace around the room.   
“This place is modeled after my Death-T arena, with actual rooms set up instead. I was planning on having it be a replica of the whole thing, but I wasn't able to get over to this dimension in time to fix the plans. Not that it matters, the two of you won't leave here alive.”   
He sat down, tapping his fingers against his knee.   
“Now then, shall we start our duel?”   
“Actually, I have a much better idea.”  
Bakura stated, before he began muttering to himself. While the other two watched, his Millennium Ring appeared, flashing at them as Bakura's hair began to wave around and his eyes grew large. He concentrated, pouring all his mental energy into one giant blast pointed right at the other man.   
Seto screamed, collapsing onto the carpet in pain before he disappeared right before them. Yami just stood there staring as Bakura put his arm down turning back towards him with raised eyebrows. “Let's just get the hell out of here.” Yami agreed, and the two spirits ran out of the building. 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Joey pushed open the Emergency Room doors, yelling out for anyone who could hear him. Mai managed to ease herself into a chair with Yugi's help, touching her stomach several times in pain. A nurse approached with a clip board, taking down her information as well as Yugi could remember it. She gently placed Mai in a wheelchair before looking over at Yugi  
“Are you the father young man?”   
Yugi quickly shook his head no, his face turning so read that the nurse couldn't help but smile.   
“No miss. She's just a good friend of mine.”   
“Well, that is sweet of you to look out for your friend sweetheart. I'm going to take her into a room now, I'll come get you when something happens.”   
Yugi nodded, watching as the woman disappeared through the doors with Mai, hoping that she was going to be alright. Joey choose that moment to re-appear, panicking when Mai wasn't sitting next to Yugi.   
“Don't worry Joey, the nurse came and got her. They are running some tests, and hopefully she'll be out here soon.”   
Ryou, who had followed Joey to go find someone to help Mai, approached the two of them with hot tea, hoping the drink will help soothe Joey.   
“I called your Grandfather Yugi and asked him if he could try to locate some of our other friends. I'm hoping everyone made it back alright, this whole thing has been crazy.”   
Yugi nodded, looking over at Joey who was staring at his tea with a blank look on his face. R you's phone beeped, and he looked down confused.   
“It's from Mokuba. He said he is at Kaiba Corp with his brother, Marik, and Malik. He's heard from Tristan, Duke and Tea, and they are trying to track us down.”   
Yugi peeked at his own phone, and he saw several messages from the rest of their friends dated from the last few minutes.   
“Well, I know they aren't going to want a huge crowd in here, but I'll tell everyone to go to the Game Shop. They can keep Grandpa calm until we know what is going on with Mai.”   
Ryou nodded, and quickly shot off a text to Mokuba before closing his phone. Joey began drumming his hands on his knees, making noises with his mouth, doing anything to keep his mind occupied while he waited for news.   
Minutes dragged like hours, and Joey started pacing, not sure what to do. Ryou joined him on one side, Yugi on the other. Finally, the doors opened, and Yami and Bakura ran through, running over to the threesome and wrapping their arms around their lights.   
“Where is Mai? Is she OK?”   
Yami asked, leaning down to kiss his hikari quickly.   
“We aren't sure. The nurse came and took her somewhere in the hospital, we are just waiting for someone to come talk to us.”   
Yami nodded, talking up the pacing next to Yugi, while Bakura joined next to Ryou. The five of them walked around the waiting room, hoping for some sort of news. Their marching was only interrupted by an occasional text from one of their various friends, hoping for news.   
Each 'no' response made the waiting seem longer, and Bakura was beginning to grow frustrated with the lack of answers. He was about to go bang down the doors himself and look from some when they came bursting into the ER like an angel in a white coat.   
Not the kind a doctor would wear, a white coat that belonged to the one and only Seto Kaiba. The CEO cast his gaze around the ER, locating the 'geek squad' and marched over, stopping only to stare at Joey.   
“Just to be clear, I am only here because Mokuba has been through a lot lately and he begged me to come and help you geeks out.”   
Joey nodded, knowing that having Kaiba here would open up a few doors and get them some answers. Kaiba looked at the blonde, blinking once before turning and marching through the doors. Joey looked back at Yugi in surprise.   
“I didn't know you could do that!”   
Yugi shrugged before nodded, telling Joey to hurry up before Kaiba left him behind. Joey quickly turned and ran, leaving the other four to pace some more. 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Kaiba marched up the hallway towards the nurses station, sending his patented glare to anyone who happened to stand in his way. Joey followed, enjoying watching Kaiba in his element when it wasn't aimed at him in particular. Finally, they made it to a nurses station, where Kaiba demanded to talk to the head nurse.   
Once she appeared, Kaiba quickly told her they wanted an update on Mai Valentine, that she was an important Kaiba Corp employee, and that he was personally paying all medical expenses that would be incurred for her treatment. The nurse nodded, quickly flipping through her files.   
“I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, I can't give out any medical information unless you're family or on her approved list. The only one listed here is a Joseph Wheeler as the baby's father.”   
Joey's eyes widen as he pushed Kaiba aside.   
“That's me! Is Mai OK? What about the baby?”   
The nurse scanned over the file, pursing her lips.   
“Let me get the doctor. I'll be back in 5 minutes you two stay right there.”   
She ordered, then scurried off. Kaiba growled, flipping open his phone to stare at it for a minute. Joey starting pacing again, ignoring the snide comments from the CEO in front of him. All he cared about was Mai, seeing her and helping her through whatever trauma this ordeal had put her through.   
He took several laps around the room before the nurse appeared again with a doctor, cleaning his hands as he hurried down the hallway. He pointed to an office, and Joey entered, leaving Kaiba outside the door on his phone. The doctor pointed to a chair, and sat down himself, pulling the chair up so he was knee-to-knee with the blond.   
“Joseph, I know you are not yet 18, but I understand that you do not have a parental figure in your life. I want you to know that as of right now Mai and your baby are in critical but stable condition, but that could change in the next few hours. If that happens, as next-of-kin you might have to make some very difficult choices. Is there someone I can call that could help you through this?”   
Joey blinked several times, not processing the words.   
“I understand also that Mr. Kaiba is here and he is offering to help ease your financial burden. I can have him sit in our meeting with your consent and help you understand what is going on if you'd like.”   
Joey blinked again before nodding slowly. The doctor got up and left the room briefly, returning with Kaiba in tow. Kaiba sat down stiffly next to Joey, placing his phone in his pocket and staring straight at the doctor.   
“Now, let me introduce myself. I am Dr. Seth Milgreen, and I am the Chief of Surgery at Domino Hospital. Mai was admitted after tests showed she suffered severe abuse over the past few weeks. She has a broken wrists, several broke ribs, and burn marks up and down her body.”   
Joey flinched, knowing those marks came from his father. He had suffered similar ones over the years, several of which had left marks that Mai had seen.   
“She has been starved and forced to stand for long periods of time which has caused her ankles to swell. Her blood pressure is extremely high, and the baby is making it worse.”   
“What do you mean the baby is making it worse?”   
Kaiba asked, scribbling something down on a pad of paper.   
“What I mean is that Mai was obviously abused during the beginning of her pregnancy, and her body is unable to heal itself. High blood pressure is dangerous for both her and the baby, and it's possible she could have a stroke. She also very likely could loose the fetus if that happens.”   
Kaiba flipped to another page in his notebook, writing down a name and number and handing it to the doctor.   
“My office has been looking for Mai for months. She was taken by a local gang in order to pay off a debt that someone owed. This is the number for my contact in the police department. He will be arresting and pressing charges against whoever did this. He will need any evidence you collect.”   
Joey looked over at Kaiba in surprise. He hadn't known that Kaiba had done all of that. The doctor accepted the information, looking it over briefly before placing it in Mai's chart. He closed it and looked back at Joey, leaning forward to place a hand on the blond's knee.   
“Joseph, you need to know that Mai told us she was raped, and said there was a possibility that the baby could not be yours. Do you remember the last time you two had sex? Mai's memory is pretty foggy so we can't pinpoint who she was with at the time of conception.”   
Joey thought back, trying to think back.   
'“We started the end of May, after I got back from Japan, until she disappeared in the beginning of September, pretty much right after school started.”   
The doctor flipped through his chart, nodding to himself.   
“She is at 24 weeks, which fits into the time line you just told me. Now Joseph, I need you to understand that there is a good chance we might have to make a decision very quickly on what to do with the fetus. As of right now, it has about a 70% chance of living if we were to perform a c-section. Luckily, the fetus is at 2.01 lbs, which is the average size of one at 27 weeks. This could be very crucial to its survival.”   
Dr. Milgreen touched Joey's shoulder, making the two meet eye-to-eye.   
“I am telling you this because you need to know all the facts because you might have to make the decision for Mai on whether or not we wait on giving her a C-section if her blood pressure sky-rockets again. I know you are young, and this is a lot of information I'm running past you, but you need all of it to make an informed decision..”   
Joey nodded, his eyes glazed over. Dr. Milgreen sighed to himself, knowing that this was not going to be an easy night. He stood, gesturing to the two almost adults.   
“Mai's in the ICU right now, but she is conscious for the most part. Maybe a few minutes with her would help your decision process.”   
With that the doctor stood, motioning for the two boys to follow him. They did wordlessly, ghosting through the halls without so much as a word between them. When they got to the ICU, Dr. Milgreen stopped.   
“Mr. Kaiba, she is only able to handle one visitor at a time. Perhaps you can wait in our private family room around the corner.”   
He pointed towards a door, and Kaiba nodded, leaving the other two and shutting himself away from everyone. He kept checking his phone, waiting for an email from work. The delay was not helping his mood, and he threw the phone on the chair in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. He walked over to the sink and splashed some water on his face, looking into the mirror only to see green hair reflecting back at him.   
“Hello Kaiba.”

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Joey watched through the window as Mai's chest moved up and down, the only sign he could see that she was even alive. There were machines everywhere, monitoring both her and the baby's vital signs. Joey felt the tears starting to fall as he watched the woman he loved cling to life, and for the first time he truly wanted to kill his father.   
Even through the years of abuse, he still loved the man who had sired him, but the man who once had played with him and shown him how to throw a punch was gone, replaced by someone who drank and gambled with things that didn't even belong to him.   
The doctor choose that moment to come back, opening the door to let Joey enter the room. He sank in a chair, holding Mai's hand and waiting for her to wake up to talk to him.   
“Come on Mai, wake up.”   
He whispered over and over for what seemed like hours. Finally, her eyes opened, blinking until they focused on Joey. He smiled, choking back a few tears filled with memories of Battle City and the pain he had felt when she was in a coma after Marik beat her in their game.   
She kept staring at him, not saying a thing. Joey gently took her hand, kissing it. They sat there for a few minutes while the steady beeping of her heart monitor kept going.   
“Help me make a decision Mai. I don't know what to do to help you.”   
Mai squeezed his hand, taking it and place it over her belly. Now that they were in the hospital, Joey realized that her stomach looked so big because she had lost so much weight. Her veins were showing, making the healing burn scars look almost like they were painted on. She had dark circles under her eyes, which had a dark, sunken in look to them.   
Joey just held her hand, muttering reassurances to her as she kept rubbing her belly. He nodded, tears flowing down his cheeks as he understood what she was trying to tell him. She closed her eyes, her grip loosening as she fell back asleep.   
Joey sat with her for a few more minutes before the the nurse came in and told him it was time to go. Once they were out of the room, she led him to another office, where another doctor was waiting for him. Dr. Milgreen was also there, shifting through charts as he waited. Joey sat down, looking blankly at the two doctors. Dr. Milgreen put his papers down, smiling reassuringly at the blond.   
“I'm sorry to pull you out of the ICU Joseph, but we have a few things that we need to discuss with you. I understand that you are living with Solomon Moto, the Grandfather of one of your classmates correct?”   
Joey nodded, not sure where this was leading.   
“Given the circumstances, there is no one to make medical decisions for Mai. She has very little family, and the few members we were able to find declined knowing her. Unfortunately, you are too young to make medical decisions for her, so we chose the next best thing. Mr. Moto will be joining us in a minute, and he has agreed to be her advocate.”   
Joey's head snapped up, eyes blazing.   
“You told me I could make the decisions! She already told me what she wanted... she wants to save her baby like almost anyone in this situation!”   
Joey snapped, annoyed at the turn of events.   
“I know she told you Joseph, but I can't change the laws. You can say your piece in a minute when we are all here.”   
A knock on the door interrupted them, and it opened to reveal Yugi's grandpa, looking tired and weary.   
“Gramps!”   
Joey shouted, startling the old man. He gave Joey a long look, settling down in the chair before clamping his hand on the boy's shoulder. The two doctors shook his hand, sitting down themselves.   
“Now that we are all here, let me introduce my colleague. This is Dr. Ryana Grant, and she is the head of our NICU, where we treat newborns. She has been consulting with me ever since Mai came in this afternoon, and she would like to speak with you about what our options are as of right now.”   
The female doctor smiled, reaching forward to touch Joey's hand briefly before flipping open one of her charts.

JSDKFLJSDFJSDFSFDFSD

Kaiba stared at his reflection, wishing for nothing more than to punch the glass and take out the person in front of him.   
“What are you doing here? Who are you?”   
He hissed, watching as the person in the mirror laughed at his irritation.   
“I thought we were over this Kaiba. I'm your darker half, the one Yami sent to the Shadow Realm all those years ago. You see, when he did that, he caused a split in the dimensions, creating an alternate time line where the worse thing you did was duel his grandfather to win his Blue Eyes. The dimension I came from you tied Yugi in your first match, then proceeded to attempt to kill him with your henchmen. When that failed you built KaibaLand, creating a project called Death-T which you attempted once again to destroy Yugi by making him play a series of games, and if he failed he would die. At the end, you challenged him to one last game, and when that was over, Yami banished your dark half to the Shadow Realm. That was me, and I lingered in the old time line for years, trying to find a way to get back to you, to recreate the glory we once had when we didn't care about those pathetic losers and your worthless brother, where the two of us were united in taking over the world.”   
Kaiba frowned, lost in his own thoughts. He remembered finding plans for a 'Death-T' building years ago when he was cleaning out his Step-father's old junk, but he had thought it was something the old man had come up with, some sort of torture chamber for those who displeased him. But now, if this fool was to be believed, it was something much more sinister than that.   
But still... “I don't believe you. I had no 'darker half' that was banished to some fictional realm. I have always just been Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp, and the True King of Games!!!”   
He shouted, not caring that he was yelling at a piece of glass. His reflection laughed, smiling back at him and shaking his head.  
“Oh Kaiba, you'll never be the king of anything if you don't let me help you. By yourself, you are a pathetic mess, but with me you are strong enough to deal with anything, included that pathetic runt and his friends. When you're ready, I'll be waiting. Until then, remember this: You'll never be better alone than you could be with me.”   
With that Kaiba blinked, and the reflection in the mirror was his own, brown hair and all.

SDFSJDFKLSJLF

“So, what happened after we left you guys?”   
Yugi asked, ignoring the surprised looks from others in the waiting room as he sat on Yami's lap. They had been there for hours, not speaking, not looking at each other, not even a sound except for the occasional noise when a cell phone went off, or Bakura's huffing when Ryou would push him away. Yami sighed, leaning forward to smell his lights hair.   
“Bakura used his Shadow Magic to get rid of him. It was really quite simple actually, I'm not sure why we didn't use it in the first place.”   
Yami stated, inhaling once again the scent of his other. Ryou looked at the two darker halves, not sure of what to say.   
“Wait a minute, I thought you guys lost your powers... didn't you say you weren't able to use them anymore?”   
Bakura smiled, casually reaching out to touch Ryou's hand.   
“When we came back the last time, our powers must have came back with us or something. All I know is I woke up in that room and I felt power coursing through my veins again, and well, it didn't take me long to use it.”   
Yami glared at Bakura, remembering something.   
“Yes, and I believe I owe you and Marik a trip to the Shadow Realm as a thank you for mocking me... perhaps when we get back home?”   
Bakura grinned sheepishly, patting Ryou on the arm.   
“Well, I guess if you really think so, but shouldn't we wait and see what's going to happen with the two blonds? I'm just riveted to my chair.”  
“Bakura's right. It's been two hours since Grandpa walked past us, and we haven't seen or heard from anyone. I'm really worried guys what if Mai doesn't make it? What if she dies and her baby does too?”   
Yugi rested his head against Yami's shoulder, reaching over to take Ryou's hand. Bakura grabbed his other hand and the foursome sat in silence once again. What seemed like forever passed, and finally a familiar mop of hair emerged from the ER, walking with a steady gate over to the group, white coat billowing out behind him. Kaiba approached the group, standing stiffly in front of him. “  
Kaiba! What happened? Where's Joey? Is Mai OK?”   
Yugi asked, jumping off of Yami's lap to demand answers. Kaiba locked eyes with Yami for one second before looking down at Yugi.   
“Mai went into premature labor about 2 hours ago, while your Grandfather was talking to the Doctors. They gave her an emergency C-Section because her blood pressure spiked so bad that the doctors feared neither of them would make it. The doctors were hoping to give the baby a few more days, but all the trauma Mai's body went through made that impossible.”   
Yugi felt the tears welling up for his two friends, both of whom who had already gone through so much. Ryou squeezed his hand, smiling at the other light before looking back at Kaiba and waiting for him to continue.   
“The baby is in the NICU, she's having problems breathing but she's moving around some and there isn't any immediate danger. Mai's in recovery, her heart beat is still irregular and her blood pressure is still high, but it's coming down. Joey's with her, and your grandfather is watching the baby in the NICU.”   
Yugi, Yami, and Ryou sighed in relief, while Bakura observed Kaiba carefully, sensing something not right in the brunet.   
“Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get my brother and go back to my company. These ridiculous games have cost me a fortune.”   
With that Kaiba made to leave, leaving the four to stare after him blankly. Kaiba paused at the door, looking over his shoulder at Yugi.   
“Tell Wheeler I said good luck.”  
With that he disappeared into the early hours of the just born day.


	26. Chapter 26

Joey sat back in his chair, listening as several of his classmates gave what seemed like never ending speeches. The robe he wore was itching, and barely reached past his knees. After his father disappeared, he had no money to buy his graduation robes and his mother didn't want to be bother. Instead, Tristan's sisters gave him her old ones, dragging them out of a closet and throwing them into the wash when Joey got the call from the school that he was going to barely graduate. It had been close, Joey missing several weeks of school helping to care for Mai and the baby.  
His baby girl, the center of his universe Lisbeth. She was up to 7 pounds, a miracle that the hospital was proud of. She had been out of the hospital for two weeks now. Ironically, Joey's graduation date would have been Lisbeth's due date, March 3rd.  
She was healthy and happy, and didn't have many of the health problems that preemies of her size often did. Sometimes Joey couldn't get over the fact he had fathered this beautiful child. Even now, sitting at his graduation, a place he never thought he would get to, he would rather be home with his baby. However, he knew Yugi would kill him if he didn't show up.  
The whole gang was there, even Mai, to either walk the stage or watch the Graduation. Ishizu and Odion were the only ones not in attendance, staying home to watch the baby because of a lack of seating. Lisbeth was in great hands, and Joey couldn't wait to see her as a High School Graduate.  
Joey scanned over the audience, locking eyes with Mai, who smiled gentle at him, winking before nodding back to the stage.  
Joey blew her a kiss, relieved that she was in a good mood. Mai had spent months beating herself up, over getting kidnapped, the abuse she suffered while being gone, and not being able to carry her child longer. She no longer shared a bed with Joey, instead moving in with Bakura and Ryou.  
She had spent most of her time going back and forth to the hospital until the baby was released from the NICU. Once that happened, Joey started crashing on the couch, wanting to be there in case something happened.  
Every once in awhile Mai would show him a smidgen of affection, only to change her mind again a few minutes later. A few times, Joey had held her while she cried over the directions their life had gone, and the dreams that she could no longer keep at bay.  
Therapy was helping both of them come to terms with what had happened, but there was still a long way to go. Mai blew a kiss back, Joey pretended to catch it, winking at her. He then turned around, looking towards the stage to see Kaiba standing there, speaking.  
His blue eyes looked around the room, catching first Yugi's then Joey's eye and nodding. Joey's graduation today was in big part because of his blue eyed tormentor. He had gone to bat for Joey with the school, telling them what was going on and offering to pay for tutoring to keep Joey with the rest of his class.  
When several teachers squeaked, he put them in their place, reminding the school board of the money his company had donated. They quickly backed off, agreeing that Joey should be given the chance to finish. Kaiba also paid for all the baby's bills, and for a private house to come a couple of times a week to check on things and make sure Mai was OK.  
Once everything was dealt with, Kaiba disappeared into his building, holing himself up at the office to do more work. Joey never even got the chance to thank him for everything he had done. He really had no clue why Kaiba was doing this, but he wasn't going to complain.  
Not when his daughter was still so tiny, and taking up so much of his time. One day he would get his answers, but not today. The rest of his class stood, and Joey followed, throwing his cap in the air, making sure he caught it again.  
Kaiba stood aside, accepting his diploma from the principal and sweeping off the stage. Once he was done, the rest of the class walked up, accepting their diplomas and shaking hands then the ceremony was over, and they were no longer students but adults, not knowing what the next challenges would be.

Joey stood at his old locker,packing away the last few things before he walked away from this school. Once more picture of the gang, and it was empty and he slammed the door, turning to leave, he bumped into Kaiba.  
“Gee Kaiba, what are you doing here? What is wrong with you?”  
Joey asked, placing his hand over his heart in pretend shock. Kaiba looking down at him, his eyes flashing with barely controlled annoyance.  
“What do you want mutt?”  
He growled, and Joey bristled.  
“You have a whole school to yourself, and you're in the one hallway I'm in. Watch were you're going you jerk.”  
Joey took a breath, trying to calm down. He shouldn't be talking to Kaiba like this, not after everything he had done for him. Kaiba froze for a second before grabbing Joeys robe and throwing him against the locker and placing his hand over the blond's throat.  
“What is it with you? Why can't I get what you said out of my head?”  
He ran a hand over Joeys face, pushing the blond hair out of the way.  
“How could someone like you beat the Pharaoh when I couldn't even do it? Every time I close my eyes, I see you, standing over me with that pathetic Red Eyes, smiling that ridiculous smiled as you claim your victory over me.”  
He loosened his grip on Joey's throat, weaving his hands through his hair.  
“So many mornings I woke up wishing you were in bed next to me, and I don't know why. Why am I so obsessed with you?”  
He kissed Joey intensely, feeling the other respond. When the kiss finally ended, he pulled back, watching Joey carefully. He was on alert, waiting for the blond to start throwing punches. Kaiba slowly dropped his arms, stepping back a little to allow Joey to bolt down the hallway, leaving his box of stuff, and Kaiba, behind. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The three weeks after graduation past by in a blur. Pegasus had offered Yugi a full scholarship in exchange for because the 'face of Industrial Illusions.' He would be spending his vacations touring Asia and Europe and signing autographs.  
Grandpa had promised to keep Yami entertained, cleaning and restocking the shop to get ready for the summer tournaments. Tea was still trying to get over to America, but she needed a sponsor. Right now she was teaching full time at a local dance school, and waitress at a coffee shop.  
Tristan and Duke were taking their own tour of Europe, getting ready to come back for the groups graduation party. University would be starting the first week of April, and both were enrolled in classes.  
Bakura and Ryou had gone back to Egypt with Marik and Malik, meeting up with Ryou's dad who was on yet another dig. They too, would be coming back so Ryou could get ready for University. Unfortunately, Joey was unable to afford to go to University, even with his increased grades. Instead, Tea's mom had gotten him a job at her medical office doing secretarial work. It paid well enough, and Joey hoped that he could eventually afford to take a few classes for a better job.  
For now, he was cooking for the party, whistling as he pulled various pans out of Ryou's oven. Mai approached him, carrying the baby who was sleeping in her arms. She kissed Joey gently on the cheek before settling down at the table, watching him work. “  
How are my girls doing?”  
Joey asked, smiling at Mai widely.  
“We are doing fine, your daughter is just resting up before all her fans get here.”  
Joey stopped his cooking fast enough to drop a kiss on his baby girl before returning back to his work. Ryou had called from the airport to let them know the four boys had made it in, and were stopping to pick up stuff for the party before they came home. Yugi had spent the few days he had been home making desserts, while Duke and Tristan had come over and decorated the night before. Everything was ready, all that they needed was their friends to show up.  
An hour later, the party was in full swing. They only ones who hadn't showed up yet were the Kaiba brothers, and Mokuba had made a point in calling and letting everyone know they were on their way. Serenity had stolen Lisbeth the second she was in the door, and was currently holding her while she talked to Tristan's sister, who was trying to snag her to hold.  
Everyone else was standing around and eating, enjoying a relaxing Friday night. Grandpa was in his glory, hugging each of the gang individually and babbling about how much he loved each one of them. Joey smiled at the man who had been a true father to him, and handed him a drink, ushering him to a chair. He then walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle for Lisbeth, passing it off on Serenity.  
“Hey big brother.. I think she's going to need a diaper change too.”  
Serenity mentioned, wrinkling her nose. Tristan's sister laughed, holding out her arms for the baby.  
“I'll take care of it Joseph. It'll be nice to change a diaper when I don't have to worry about getting peed on!”  
She winked at the siblings before disappearing with the baby. Joey slid into the chair next to Serenity, smiling at his sister. She smiled back, squeezing his hand gently.  
“So how have you been big brother?”  
She asked quietly, looking her brother over.  
“It's been rough Ren, I'm not going to lie. Mai doesn't want a relationship with me, and it's rough when our baby is sleeping next to her and I just want to be with them.”  
Joey sighed, burying his head in his hands. Serenity sighed, looking off in space.  
“I wish I could help you out with that big brother. Mom doesn't want me around here anymore. She's worried about dad coming back and doing something to all of us. It took me forever to get her to agree to let me come for this party.”  
Serenity's eyes filled up with tears, and she tried hard not to cry. She just squeezed his hand and pulled herself up so she could plop down in her lap. The siblings sat there until Tristan's sister came back with the baby, sitting down next to the two and snuggling the baby in her arms. Joey smiled at her and his baby, and the four of them sat in silence for several minutes.  
“Hey Joey, Grandpa wants to make a speech and cut the cake, are you ready?”  
Yugi asked, appearing in the doorway with Yami. Joey nodding, gently pushing his sister up off his lap so he could stand.  
“Tristan, Tea, Bakura and Duke are already out there, and Mokuba has decided he's going to stand in for his 'boring' brother since Kaiba doesn't want to participate.”  
Yugi shrugged, grabbing Joey and leading him out of the room. The gang all grouped together, smiling for pictures and groaning as Grandpa talked about how proud of all of them he was, giving each member of the group a giant hug. Once the speech was done, all the parents wanted to take pictures with the group, then with their own children. Serenity grouped up with Joey, holding her niece as the two siblings gently kissed her cheeks.  
“Awe”  
Tea chuckled as she snapped the picture, just before Lisbeth let out a huge sneeze causing a few chuckles. Ryou handed out the cake, and everyone dug in, discussing various memories of the past. Finally, the party was over, and the parents left the kids to their own devices.  
Serenity was staying for the weekend, wanting to spend as much time as possible with her niece and brother as she could. Marik and Malik were going to stay at Yugi's for a few days, filling up the house that Grandpa had just gotten back into order after the last visitors he had.  
For now, the gang was all sitting at the table talking, going back over their adventures and filling in the blanks for the ones that weren't there. Even Kaiba stayed, opening his lap top and ignoring the rest of the group while Mokuba absorbed the tales being spun.  
Lisbeth was resting in Tea's arms, the brunette leaning forward to kiss the sleeping baby several times. She smiled at the bundle in her arms who was sleeping peacefully before answering Yugi's question about one of their memories.  
“I still can't believe I beat Mai in that game... I still believe that was the day that she realized we really did want to be her friend!”  
Everyone chuckled, looking around for Mai for confirmation.  
“Where is Mai anyway? I haven't seen her since we took pictures?”  
Tristan asked, looking over at Joey. Tea frowned, thinking back.  
“Come to think of it, she wasn't there either. I haven't seen her since she told Joey she was going to change after the baby spat up on her right after dinner.”  
Mokuba spoke up then, looking at his brother for confirmation.  
“We saw her on our way in. She told us that she had to run to the store for a few things and she would be right-”  
Before Mokuba could even finish that sentence Joey was gone, dashing up the steps to the room Mai shared with Lisbeth. Everything seemed to be in order, which caused Joey's stomach to drop. Mai was not an 'in order' kind of girl-she always had some sort of mess going on somewhere in the room, and quick glances about showed that all her favorite products were gone.  
Joey sank on the bed, running his hands down the perfectly made up mattress until he came across an envelope. He opened it with shaky hands, reading numbly over the note that Mai had left him. The bed shifted, and Kaiba sat down next to him as Joey continued to read that note over and over again. Underneath it was a form, and as Joey read it he realized that Mai had signed over all her rights as Lisbeth's mother, citing poor health and the inability to care for herself.  
Kaiba took the paper, reading it over himself before closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. Joey stared at his hands, not believing that Mai could leave both of them. Him yes, she had done it before on many occasions.  
But her own daughter? How could she? What was he going to do now?

9 months later...

“Alright Yugi, I get it, Pegasus wants you out touring the countryside. You better not miss your niece's first Christmas she's almost forgotten what her Uncle looks like!!! Even Tea is coming, and she's still on that Europe tour with that dance group she joined.”  
Joey unlocked the front door, letting himself in before smiling at Serenity who was sitting on the floor with Lisbeth. She took the little girl's hand and waved at Joey, who smiled back.  
“Listen Yug, if I have to steal Kaiba's jet and fly there myself to get you I will!!! Don't think I won't!!!”  
Laughter came through the speaker, and Joey grinned.  
“I gotta go, Yug, it's time to make dinner!”  
He hung up, shaking his head at his best friend. Serenity rolled her eyes, running her fingers through Lisbeth's wheat blonde hair.  
“Where is dinner going to be at tonight anyway?”  
She asked, cocking her head at her brother.  
“Eh, it's been a week. I figure Kaiba's calmed down enough to let us eat in the big house with him and Mokuba.”  
Serenity nodded, looking down at her clothes.  
“I guess I should change then big brother.”  
“Good idea, I'll change Lisbeth and you can bring her over to entertain Mokuba while I cook.”  
Joey picked up his daughter, kissing the little girl who giggled in her father's arms.  
“Now then, what should I put you in...”  
Mokuba burst out laughing as he took Lisbeth out of Joey's arms, spinning around the little girl.  
“Big brother is going to love this I can't believe you found her a Kuriboh outfit!”  
Lisbeth giggled, her blonde curls swaying in the breeze. She bounced a few times in Mokuba's arms before the boy stopped, kissing her as he placed her on the floor.  
“So did you and big brother patch things up? He's been miserable the past few days without you here.”  
Joey shrugged, rolling his eyes.  
“I can't help it your brother is such a drama king and can't just be happy he has someone.”  
He stated, heading into the kitchen. Mokuba shrugged, turning to sit down and play with Lisbeth. Kaiba came home a short time later, nodding to his little brother and Serenity before approaching the kitchen to greet his boyfriend.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Through the mirror the other Kaiba watched what was going on, contemplating his next move. He was less than happy with what he saw. Instead of plotting to take over the world and stopping at nothing to be the best at everything, his lazy counterpart was becoming complacent and -caring.- This Kaiba needed a good motivator to become the man he was suppose to be, not a wishy washy copy of his true self.  
“And I know just what to do... I just need to put my plan in motion.”  
He smiled to himself, settling back in to wait for his moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to thank everyone who was kind enough to read this story... over 1300 hits on a small idea that kept growing thank you all so much!!!


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